


Unplanned

by Cantanatova



Series: Unexpected Series [2]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Original Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28379463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantanatova/pseuds/Cantanatova
Summary: When Tin-Tin wakes up one morning in a hotel room with a mystery man in her bed, she thinks about the events that led her there.
Series: Unexpected Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875142
Comments: 15
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted as Decisions Decisions on ff, part of my goal to bring all my stories to AO3 as well!

When Tintin awoke that morning, lying on her back with her legs tangled in the sheets, she was instantly aware of two things.

1 - It was a beautiful morning in Casablanca. The sunlight was gently falling across her from the French window that led to the balcony, standing slightly ajar to allow some ventilation. The sea breeze was gently lifting the thin white curtains of the hotel room, the sound of the Atlantic ocean gently whispering against the beach in the distance. Yes, definitely a beautiful morning.

2 - There was an arm draped across her stomach.

This arm was connected to a person. A person who lay face down on the luxurious bed next to her, his legs tangled in the white cotton sheets alongside her own.

The next thing Tintin thought, as she lay on her back in the large bed staring at the fan lazily turning in the centre of the ceiling and listening to the gentle snores of the person lying next to her, was 'how on Earth did this happen?'

-x-x-

It had been another beautiful morning on Tracy Island. Tintin was watching the glittering ocean from the balcony but for once the exquisite dance of the sunlight didn't capture her. She was straining every sense in her body to hear the one-sided conversations happening behind her.

"OK John, keep me updated with how the others are getting on. I want to know everything that happens."

She turned back to the balcony rail. Nothing about Alan yet. Or any of the other boys. No news was good news, right?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise at first that Jeff Tracy, former astronaut turned philanthropist/businessman/emergency rescue coordinator, AKA patriarch of the Tracy Clan and Head of International Rescue, had come up behind her.

"Tintin, can you tell Brains to ready the sickbay?" Seeing the momentary fear in Tintin's eyes, Jeff continued, "Scott has injured his leg somehow and seems to have done some damage. After last year I'd rather be on the safe side."

Tintin nodded, feeling guilty about the flash of relief coursing through her before worry for Scott replaced it. The year before, Scott had been kidnapped along with his brother John and their resident engineer Brains, and had been tortured for information on International Rescue. Although John and Brains had recovered quickly from the ordeal, Scott had slipped into an uncharacteristic depression that he had never really recovered from. Jeff Tracy was understandably taking no chances with his eldest son, and any small scrape on a mission sent him straight to the sick bay.

"Hi, T-Tintin," Brains called as she entered his workshop, from where he was crouched behind one of his latest inventions. "What's up?"

"Mr Tracy would like the sickbay prepared Brains."

"N-nothing serious, I hope?"

"It's for Scott again, so hopefully it isn't anything much. I think it's a precaution more than anything."

"Well t-that's a relief." The engineer straightened up and wiped his hands on a small white, fluffy towel, leaving traces of oil.

"Brains, you know father hates it when you use the best towels in your workshop," Tintin scolded, taking the towel from him and passing him some blue roll.

"Sorry Tintin. A-anyway, I'd best go and prepare the sickbay. See you l-later."

Tintin waved as he walked away then stood indecisively for a moment, wringing the oily towel between her hands, before deciding she may as well find out what was going on and walking back up to Jeff's office.

-x-x-

The two Thunderbird machines returned together from their mission. From the snippets Tintin had gathered during the quick report Virgil gave over the Videscreen, the boys had been rescuing a farmer (and a lot of cows) that had become trapped in their shed after a heavy snowfall in North America. One of the cows, out of fear, had managed to kick out at Scott and one large cloven hoof had connected with his knee.

Once the arrived back at the island, Virgil immediately whisked Scott to sickbay to get a closer look at the knee while Alan came up to Jeff's office to debrief. Tintin waited expectantly for the lift that brought the passengers from Thunderbird 2, not really believing that Alan was unhurt until she saw it herself. It was a ritual she performed every time Alan went on a rescue, one smiled at and indulged by both Jeff and her father Kyrano, but one completely unnoticed by Alan himself.

When Alan did emerge, he was covered from head to toe in a foul smelling muck. He shot a wink at Tintin before straightening up to deliver his quick report to his father.

"…and we managed to get all the cows free father, although in the stampede one accidently kicked Scott. Virgil think it's nothing but a bruise though, and he was still able to fly '1 home."

"Well that's good to hear Alan. Now what on Earth have you managed to get all over you?"

"It's cow muck, father. As the cows had been trapped in the barn for a while and had been frightened by our engines it was quite deep. As the cows were leaving, a large bull knocked me over into a pile of it."

"A large bull?" Virgil spoke up from behind Tintin, causing everyone to turn to look at him. The middle son was drying his hair with a large towel, his unbutton shirt indicating he had just come out of the shower. "I'm pretty sure it was just a baby. A calf, I think it's called."

"Well you were the other side of the shed, so I don't know how you saw it," Alan retorted, two red spots appearing on his cheeks.

"Boys! It doesn't matter what knocked you over Alan, you'd better go and get clean. We're expecting Lady Penelope here any minute, after all."

Tintin was very fond of Lady Penelope. Being surrounded by boys all the time she really appreciated the difference having another female around made to the conversation and pastimes on the island. However, in that moment she couldn't help but wish that Penelope wasn't coming to visit, as Alan immediately perked up. "Oh I forgot Penny was coming! I'll be ready in a second!" With that he rushed off towards his room and the shower awaiting him.

"Poor Tintin," Virgil commented, throwing an arm around the younger girl. "My brother is an idiot sometimes."

"Virgil," Jeff said in a warning tone, narrowing his eyes at his son.

"What? It's the truth. Come on Tintin, I'll show you how to play that piece you like so much." With that Virgil moved over to his beloved baby grand, opening the lid and lovingly running his fingers over the keys.

"No, it's ok Virgil," Tintin replied with a half-hearted smile. "I should go and help father prepare, we don't want him to argue with Parker again."

"Very wise." Virgil played a little trill on the keys, sounding suspiciously like a teaset crashing to the ground. "Maybe later then."

"Maybe," and Tintin left for the kitchen. There she found her father bustling around while Gordon, who hadn't been needed for the rescue and so had had a long lie in, sat stuffing himself with a large English-style cooked breakfast.

"Would you like some help father?"

Kyrano smiled at his daughter. "No Tintin, everything is ready. Even that Parker will not be able to find anything to complain about. You should relax and enjoy the morning."

"Yeah, come swimming with me Tintin," Gordon offered, pushing his now empty plate to one side. "The water will be perfect."

"Maybe another time Gordon. I don't feel like swimming. I'll just see if Brains needs a hand in his lab."

"And you should not be swimming so soon after eating, Mr Gordon."

As Tintin left she could hear the red-headed brother arguing with her father, and it raised a smile on her face. She made a couple of cups of tea and headed back to the workshop. When she got there, she plonked a mug next to Brains before hopping up on to one of the stools. Without looking up, Brains took a sip of tea and grimaced before asking "Alan again?"

Tintin's only response was to sigh.

"Let me g-guess, Lady Penelope is visiting?"

Tintin started swivelling on her stool before asking quietly, keeping her eyes on the floor, "Is it that obvious?"

"Whenever you make me overstewed t-tea with no sugar in it, i-it usually means Alan." Brains smiled shyly before returning to his project.

The pair sat in silence for a bit while Brains carried on working. Eventually Tintin's curiosity got the better of her and she spoke up. "What is it that you're working on?"

"It's a-a new type of battery, Tintin," Brains replied, evidently pleased to be asked. "It uses carbon dioxide to release the hydrogen in water for energy, a-and the only by-products are oxygen and diamond."

"Diamond? Really?" Her miseries forgotten in the interest of the new invention, Tintin hopped off her stool to get a closer look at the battery pack. It was about half her height, a large rectangular unit with pipes trailing out of it.

"T-the diamonds are quite inferior really," Brains explained. "But it should generate a lot of power. M-many of International Rescue's mission are to stop machines at risk of nuclear meltdown. This battery pack should be able to p-provide a similar amount of power, without the danger."

"That's wonderful Brains, truly wonderful."

"Yes well hopefully it will be, but it isn't ready yet. The carbon dioxide separates the water c-correctly, but then for some reason it overheats and the whole machine gets very hot. A-as yet I have not been able to find a s-solution for this problem."

"Would you like some help?"

The pair began working together on the new battery pack, completely absorbed in the invention and losing track of time. They might have been there for hours, if the tannoy hadn't announced the imminent arrival of one Lady Penelop Creighton-Ward.


	2. Penny Visits

Tintin was beginning to get a bad headache, probably caused by far too many cocktails the night before. She rarely drank, but in her hazy memory of the night before she definitely remembered knocking back several potent mixtures – Manhatten Blue, they had been called. A cocktail that the hotel bar had created using some dubious ingredients and blue food dye, though why it was called Manhatten anything when New York was an ocean away she didn't know.

Being horizontal was beginning to be unbearable with her spinning head, so she pulled herself up into a sitting position while being very careful not to disturb the sleeper next to her. That was a conversation she really didn't want to have, not yet. For a moment the thought of sneaking out crossed her mind, rejected when she remembered they were in her hotel room. And besides, it would be unkind. She definitely owed him an explanation if nothing else.

Tintin rubbed the back of her eyes with one hand, picking up a small glass of water from her bedside table with the other. She sipped it slowly while she thought things over and tried to think of a way out of her current predicament.

-x-x-

Virgil had been playing a jazz piece on the piano when Tintin had entered the lounge with Brains close behind her. Lady Penelope, the beautiful blond English aristocrat with impeccable dress sense and manners to match, sat on one of the small chairs by the coffee table with a cup of tea already delicately balanced on a saucer in a dainty hand. She was talking to Jeff, with Alan standing slightly behind the sofa his father sat on. Gordon was nowhere to be seen, but Tintin suspected he was still trawling up and down the swimming pool. Scott was also conspicuous in his absence.

Jeff smiled at her and Brains. "Ah, here come our resident engineers! Time to take a break you two, and join us for a while."

"S-sure, Mr. Tracy." Brains stammered, before sitting stiffly on the small sofa next to Jeff. Lady Penelope stood up gracefully and enveloped Tintin in a perfumed hug.

"It's simply wonderful to see you again, Tintin. It has been too long."

"Far too long," Tintin agreed, smiling at the older lady. "It is lovely to see you as well, Penelope." She meant it as well – insecure jealousy aside, she really did value the friendship of the aristocrat. Her presence brought an extra spark of life to the island that had too often been missing of late.

"You must come and visit the manor soon," Penelope declared, sitting down and patting the seat next to her to invite Tintin to join her. "There is a delightful little theatre I found recently that is playing classical opera. I think that you would simply love it."

One of Tintin's favourite pastimes was visiting the opera, and she happily talked about her favourite pieces for a while with Virgil obligingly playing some of them in the background. The other men in the room weren't that interested in opera, and couldn't really join in the conversation. Brains sat shyly drinking his tea, Jeff was happy to listen to the girls talk but Alan was soon bored by a conversation in which he had no part.

"Hey Penny, have we told you yet about the rescue earlier today?"

"No Alan, but I am simply dying to hear about it. Your adventures always sound so exciting. What happened?"

Alan happily regaled Penelope with his story of the rescue, adding more raging bulls and breaking rafters than Tintin remembered from the earlier rendition. In the middle of it, Jeff leant over to Tintin with a small frown on his face.

"Tintin, could you go and find Scott for me? I expected him to be here by now."

"Of course Mr Tracy," Tintin slipped from her seat and left the room, smiling to herself as Alan's story became more and more embellished.

Finding Scott was harder than Tintin had anticipated. She checked the obvious places: the sickbay, his bedroom, the games room – but drew a blank in all of them. Eventually she stopped in the hallway and considered. Scott's knee was injured, so he would struggle to climb stairs. This ruled out the beach or John's astronomy deck. This only really left the lift to the hanger, so that's where Tintin headed. When she entered from the workshop door she was rewarded by seeing the dark haired Tracy boy tinkering with one of Thunderbird 1's accessories.

"What are you doing, Scott?"

Scott jumped, but visibly relaxed when he saw it was Tintin. "I'm just trying to fix this remote camera. It hasn't been connecting properly on missions and I've had to use the spare. I didn't want to bother Brains with it so…" He spread his hands wide as though that was a complete explanation as to why he was sat by himself in Thunderbird 1's hanger fixing a camera when Lady Penelope was visiting.

As though sensing it was a rubbish excuse, Scott pushed his chair away from the workbench and turned to face Tintin. "Truthfully, it's all been a bit much. I like seeing Penny, but she's been visiting nearly every other week. And every time she's here I feel like I'm not allowed out of her sight. I don't mind that much, but it's nice to have some quiet and time to myself."

"Oh dear. But Scott, she visits to cheer you up. You always seem so much happier during her visits."

"Well it does brighten up the Island, and cheer up dad." He shrugged and returned to his work, completely engrossed in the minutiae of the electronics.

"What happened last year, Scott?"

Scott froze, before placing the pliers on the workbench and turning back to her. "You know Tintin, I think you're probably the only person that has actually asked me that."

"I think Mr Tracy thought that it was best not to remind you of it, and has just hoped that time would heal you. But I think you lost something of yourself that day, and haven't regained it yet."

"And probably never will," Scott murmured, before standing and wrapping his arm around Tintin's shoulders. "You're very perceptive sometimes, Tintin. Now we'd better go and make small talk before father sends a search party down after us." Steering Tintin by the shoulders, the two of them slowly made their way back to the lounge. Tintin thought that Scott had evaded the question, but then maybe she shouldn't have asked it at all.

-x-x-

The moment Scott made his grand entrance, hobbling in behind Tintin, he immediately became the focus of the party. Laughingly he waved away Penelope's efforts to make him comfortable, explaining that he had no one else to blame other than himself for getting in the way of an irate cow. He did succumb to one of Parker's 'special' cocktails though, as he wasn't going to be able to go out on a mission even if something happened.

Alan came over to where Tintin was standing. "What is it about Scott – whenever he enters a room the rest of us are forgotten!"

"Oh Alan, Penelope spoke to you earlier. Let Scott have his turn now."

"I suppose. Hey Tintin, would you like a drink?"

"Oh yes please Alan, but nothing too strong."

"Of course," Alan began mixing at the bar, an elaborate display that including several airborne elements and surreptitious glances to see if anyone was paying attention, other than Tintin of course. He was just shaking the ice when the silver shaker split open – and rained crushed ice down on both Alan and Tintin!

That drew the attention of the room – but probably not in the way Alan had been hoping for. Jeff Tracy guffawed loudly, Lady Penelope managed to just about contain her mirth to a restrained giggle, but his brothers were far less restrained and laughed loudly.

"Is it raining Alan?" Virgil called, his piano momentarily forgotten.

"Snowing, apparently," Scott added, looking at the ice scattered over the smooth tiled floor.

"Stop it you two, it was just an accident," Tintin scolded, trying to stick up for Alan. However, the youngest Tracy stomped out of the room with a cross expression.

"H-here Tintin," Brains said, handing her a towel. "You have i-ice in your, um, hair." And he reached up to brush a piece of ice away, blushing when she gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you, Brains," she then looked ruefully at her empty glass. "Shame about the drink."

"H'what would you like, Miss Tintin?" Parker asked, taking up station behind the bar. "H'I can make you h'one of my…er….specials, h'if you like?"

"Oh no Parker," she laughed. "I have heard about your specials! A simple gin and tonic is fine for me."

"Very h'well," and in no time Tintin had a new drink in front of her. The normal chatter resumed, and Tintin managed to slip out onto the balcony, sipping her drink whilst watching the evening sun cast orange sunbeams across the ocean. Had it only been this morning that she had stood and waited expectantly for news about Alan? It seemed so long ago now.

Her reverie was interrupted when Brains joined her.

"A-are you ok, Tintin?"

"Oh yes Brains. I'm just thinking, that's all."

"O-oh good." They stood together for a while, watching the sky slowly darken. Eventually Tintin broke the silence.

"Do you think friends can ever see each other as…more than friends, Brains?"

"I'd…err…I'd like to think so, T-tintin," Brains replied, staring down at his hands. "I'm s-sure Alan will realise one day-"

"Alan? Who said anything about Alan?" Tintin interrupted quickly – too quickly. "I just meant…hypothetically."

"Oh…o-of course."

Turning to go back indoors, Tintin reached up and pecked the engineer on the cheek. "Thank you for being such a good friend, Brains." And with that she left him, standing by himself on the balcony in the twilight.


	3. A Day At The Beacg

Luckily for Tintin, each hotel room came complete with a miniature tea set. That was a relief at least, she hated staying in hotels where they assumed everyone would require a morning dose of coffee, as making tea in a coffeemaker led to a very strange taste. Tintin's favourite was jasmine tea, the delicate smell helping to cure almost any ailment, hopefully including hangovers!

Freshly brewed cup in hand, Tintin stepped through the fresh windows onto the balcony. The bright sunlight did nothing to help her head, but she put on her sunglasses and lay on a large lounger placed so it would overlook the beach. The white silk bathrobe helped to keep her cool in the bright morning sun and while she drank her tea she watched an elderly man righting parasols and laying out sunbeds on the beach below. Some eager swimmers were already braving the waves, despite a lingering chill in the air. The Atlantic for once was relatively calm, rolling small breakers that ran in to kiss the fine, white sand before withdrawing swiftly back to the deep blue of the ocean.

It was idyllic and for the first time that morning Tintin found herself beginning to relax, lulled by the soft sounds of the waves into forgetting the awkward situation she had found herself in.

-x-x-

Following her conversation with Scott, Tintin began to notice small things during the rest of Penelope's stay that she had been oblivious to before. The smile on his face that sometimes became fixed and almost never reached his eyes; the slight reluctance to participate in all the planned activities, for which his attendance was naturally deemed necessary ("It simply would not be the same without you, Scott"). Tintin actually wondered how nobody else noticed that instead of making him feel less isolated, the forced merriment was causing Scott to withdraw more into himself. Maybe John would have done, but he was still stationed up on Thunderbird 5, the large space station that International Rescue had put into geostationary orbit to monitor radio signals on Earth.

Tintin subsequently made more of an effort to engage Penelope herself, allowing Scott some freedom and giving both herself and Penelope a chance to catch up with their closest female friend. Penelope, perhaps sensing Tintin's aim, didn't resist very hard and the girls spent a few days enjoying the perks of island life – swimming in the bay, strolling along the beach and taking a small boat out for circuit around the whole island. For the latter trip they took Gordon and Alan with them to drive the boat, and to stop the boys complaining that the girls got to have all the fun.

The small boat they took for their outing was ideally meant for two and was equipped with an autopilot for that reason. When Eddie Houseman (self-made entrepreneur and an old 'friend' of Tintin's) had visited the pair had used this function to….catch up. Hence Tintin was quite surprised that Alan had volunteered to drive, which led to Gordon reminding them (loudly and with more than a smattering of amateur dramatics) that Alan didn't have a great track record with boats – one particularly memorable incident involved a yacht and the island runway. Soon all four had set out on the tour, getting rather cosy in the little red speedboat.

Luckily the day was beautiful, the ocean waves calmed to a soothing swell. Gordon soon took the piloting role, allowing Alan to entertain the girls. Tintin surprised herself by having a really good time – sat in the sun with a glass of bubbly and good company she was reminded of how much fun Alan could be. Lately she had begun to feel that his fun enthusiasm had become a touch arrogant but today she felt none of that.

The quartet anchored the boat in one of the small coves that was inaccessible by land. It was the same cove that Tintin had visited once before, when searching for the elusive 'water mamba'. There were caves under the cliff along one edge and a small beach on the far side that was secluded and peaceful. Tintin had no desire to visit the caves again, so her face fell when Gordon called out over the sounds of the dying engine "Let's go and look at the caves!"

Penelope was nothing if not diplomatic. She saw immediately that the younger girl didn't want to revisit the dark caves on such a bright day. "I'd love to Gordon, but you boys go and have fun. Tintin and I will visit the small beach."

"Oh don't worry Penny, I'll go to the beach with Tintin." Alan's offer made Tintin smile and Penelope feel just a little satisfied with herself. Soon, Gordon and Penelope were getting ready to dive, fastening their breathing tubes (another Brains invention designed to eliminate the use of heavy oxygen tanks) and slipping over the side of the boat.

Alan watched until he could no longer see any bubbles before turning to Tintin. "well what now? We can't really take the boat to the beach."

"Why don't we swim, Alan? You always enjoy a nice bit of sunbathing."

"Alright." The unusually taciturn Alan shrugged out of his shirt, while Tintin slowly removed her sarong to show off the new swimsuit underneath. She took a sly look over to see if Alan had noticed (not that she had worn it so that he would notice, of course) to see him cast a quick eye over it. With a "Nice costume, Tintin," he down off the side of the boat. "Coming?"

Tintin jumped in the water with far more decorum, bobbing up close to Alan. She playfully splashed some water at him before turning and swimming as fast as she could towards the beach. With a shout of surprise Alan followed, creating a game of aqua-tag that culminated in them giggling on the small pebbles, wavelets washing over them.

They scarpered further up the beach to dry sand, warmed nicely from the sun. Stretching out next to each other they lay side by side, watching some very small clouds being chased across the sky by wind they couldn't feel. Tintin smiled happily as she dried out in the warm air. Tentatively she stretched her fingers out towards Alan, but before their hands met he rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his elbow to look at her.

"Hey, this is real swell, Tintin."

"I'm glad Alan." Tintin smiled and closed her eyes as she dozed. Alan flopped back down onto his back. Peace descended on the cove as the pair slept in the sunshine.

Tintin woke after a while to find no sign of Alan. The tide was beginning to come in and the water lapped around her toes. She sat up and shielded her eyes with the hand as she looked around the small beach. She couldn't see the blond, but movement in the shrubbery that lined the sharp cliffs to one side indicated where he was.

Tintin walked over, curious to see what he was doing. Around the boy lay detritus from where he had pulled at the shrubs to expose the rock face, and he was using a small pocket knife to chip away at the cliff itself.

"Oh, hey Tintin," he grinned, noticing his audience. "I was just looking at this cliff here – see how loose some of this rock is? We should be easily able to cut some steps into it. Then you'd be able to walk down here whenever you like."

"No Alan!" Tintin cried in dismay. "Part of the beauty of this beach is the isolation!"

Alan's grin was immediately replaced by a frown. "I thought you liked coming here?"

"Oh I do, I really do, but you'll take away some of the magic if you build a big path down from the main house."

"Well fine." Alan stopped what he was doing abruptly and threw the branches he was holding onto the floor. He stalked away from the cliff, back towards the water's edge. Tintin followed, trotting to keep up with Alan's big strides.

"You aren't angry with me, are you Alan? I appreciate the gesture, it was really very thoughtful of you."

Alan's gaze softened as he looked at the pretty brunette. "It's impossible to be angry with you Tintin. If it means so much to you I'll leave it as it is."

"Oh Alan, if you really want to build stairs please don't worry about me. I'm sure there are other beaches." Tintin hated to see Alan looking so down, and if constructing some basic steps down from the forest above would make him happy then the sacrifice of one secluded beach – yes it was one of her favourites but there were plenty others – would be worth it.

"It's OK Tintin," Alan replied generously. "I was looking forward to some activity though. I feel like I've been very lethargic today. It is a shame we did not all go to explore the caves."

"Well why don't you go and see if you can catch up with Gordon and Penny?" Tintin didn't particularly want Alan to go, as she would be left alone on the beach indefinitely, but she would rather he joined the others than miss out on the fun they were having.

"Are you sure Tintin, that would be great! I won't be long, we can meet back at the boat in an hour."

"Of course I'm sure." Tintin smiled at him to show that she meant it, and in a flash Alan was gone.

Now she was alone on the beach, Tintin didn't know quite what to do. Somehow lying on a beach wasn't as much fun if you were by yourself. She skimmed some stones into the sea, trying to follow the instructions that one of the boys – she couldn't remember which – had given her when they had shown her their technique. She was just becoming bored with this game when she noticed a chill in the air. Dark clouds had rolled in to obscure the sun and the wind, which had appeared to innocent before, was beginning to make its presence felt. Mindful of the sudden storms that occasionally blew in to the island Tintin started to swim back to the boat. It was a wise decision, despite being a strong swimmer and in a sheltered cove it was hard work and took her much longer than expected.

She climbed tiredly into the small craft to find she was the only one back, despite a good hour and a half passing since Alan had left the beach. Frowning, she looked for any sign of her companions, but the sea was getting rougher and there was still no sign of them. One particularly large wave hit the boat and Tintin's bag fell on its side, the carefully stowed contents spilling out and rolling towards her. Biting back a cry of frustration, Tintin grabbed her possessions when she suddenly stopped when she came across her watch lying on the floor of the boat. Her watch! She should never have taken it off, but it was a good way of getting back in contact with the others. But who to call? Penelope didn't have a watch and was unlikely to have taken her compact scuba diving, and Alan might think she was trying to check up on him.

"This is Tintin calling Gordon, Gordon can you hear me?"

At first she thought she was only going to get silence, but after a few moments of waiting a faint and distorted voice replied.

"I can just about hear you Tintin, what's up?"

"It's getting rather rough Gordon, I think a storm is coming in. It would probably be a good idea to go back to the house now."

"FAB Tintin, we will hurry back to you now." Gordon ended the call just as another large wave crashed into the boat, nearly knocking Tintin off her feet. She stumbled over to the seat, beginning to feel a bit queasy as the small boat was hit by increasingly big waves.

No more than fifteen minutes had passed – although it felt quite a lot longer to Tintin – when she saw Gordon's head appear over the edge of the boat. As the red-headed Tracy pulled himself over the side and turned to help Penelope in behind him, he shot a quick wink at Tintin.

"You were right about it being rough Tintin!" Penelope safely deposited in a seat, Gordon turned to Tintin with a slight frown. "Where is Alan?"

"You mean he isn't with you? Oh no, he must still be out there somewhere!" Immediately Tintin feared the worst, imagining Alan dashed to pieces on the rocks. Penelope, seeing her young friend become so agitated, placed a soothing hand on her arm.

"I am sure Alan is perfectly well Tintin. It is very calm in the caves considering how bad it is out here, and he is a very good swimmer isn't he Gordon?"

"Well sure," Gordon replied, an expression of concern on his face as he studied the still worsening sea. "Although, I'm not sure I understand why he is out there at all. Didn't you go to the beach?"

"Well we did, yes, but then Alan got so bored and I suggested he tried to find you. He left some time ago now."

"He just left you by yourself?" Gordon's tone was incredulous, but he stood on the boat's rim to try to spy his brother among the waves.

"Have you tried calling him?" Penelope flipped open her compact. "This is Lady Penelope called Alan Tracy. I repeat, Alan can you hear me?"

A persistent beeping was emitting from the bags stacked at one end of the boat. Rushing over, Tintin recovered Alan's watch from where he must have stowed it earlier – along with his respirator.

Gordon swore loudly. "He doesn't have his respirator?" Another large wave hit the boat, and Gordon was nearly thrown in himself from his precarious position. Making a quick decision, he moved over to the wheel. "We've got to get this back, it isn't made for this weather. I'll bring '4 out to look for him."

Tintin nodded, her face white, while Penelope sat down in the back of the boat and encouraged the younger girl to join her. The trip back to the quay was tense, Gordon called ahead and explained the situation while Penelope soothed Tintin and tried to keep her calm.

It took another half an hour for Gordon to navigate the small speedboat through the choppy sea and back to the dock. Scott and Virgil were there waiting for them, Virgil to help Gordon launch Thunderbird 4 and Scott to escort the ladies back to the house. Gordon was quickly gone, leaving Scott to secure the boat. Lady Penelope gratefully accepted his assistance in alighting but then pulled him aside before he could help Tintin out.

"She's taking this very hard Scott, I think she believes it is somehow her fault."

Scott replied with a wry smile. "Alan is perfectly capable of getting into trouble by himself, I doubt he needs Tintin's help." With that, he turned his attention to the girl in question, helping her out of the boat and back onto dry land. Tintin was still white and shaking slightly, her worry all too obvious. Concerned, Scott put an arm around her shoulders and started to guide her up the stairs to the villa, chatting merrily all the way. Penelope followed with a slight smile, she wasn't particularly worried about Alan as he had been in far worse situations and Thunderbird 4 was out looking for him now, but she was pleased to see that Scott's encouragement was having a positive effect on Tintin.

Despite Scott's attempts to persuade her to freshen up, Tintin insisted on sitting in the lounge in her swimsuit with a robe wrapped around her. She just couldn't bear to miss any news of Alan. Penelope had elected to go and get clean but knew that Tintin was in capable hands. Scott sat with her and continued to talk to her, trying to take her mind off the indeterminable wait. Jeff Tracy sat at his desk,

Not too long after Gordon had departed in Thunderbird 4, he called through to explain that he had found Alan sheltering deep within the cave system, where the storm had barely reached. Tintin looked up with red rimmed eyes as Jeff acknowledged his son's report and let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Due to Thunderbird 4's superior speed and ability to handle the conditions, within ten minutes of Gordon's report Alan was stood dripping water onto the floor of the lounge, getting a lecture from his father.

"Thunderbird machines are speciality machines designed to cope with the worst disasters imaginable, they are not there to find boys who should know better than to explore caves by themselves without a respirator or any way of contacting them!"

"But dad..."

"Don't give me that tone, Alan Tracy. Your decision to go off by yourself was irresponsible, I've told you all so many times to go in company if you want to go caving, and because you thought yourself above the rules we had to scramble a Thunderbird to retrieve you!"

"But dad, Tintin told me to go into the caves!"

Tintin suddenly found herself the unwanted centre of attention in the room. She shifted uncomfortably as Jeff frowned at her. "Is this true?"

"Well...yes, Mr Tracy."

"I am disappointed Tintin, you know the rules of the Island as well as anyone else."

"I'm sorry," Tintin fought hard to contain a sob, knowing that Jeff was not likely to be impressed by tears. The patriarch watched soberly at the girl's distress.

"That will do Tintin, you may go."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and fled the room. Scott stood once she had left and glared at his youngest brother. "That was low Alan, even for you."

"Scott..." his father started warningly.

"I know, I'm going." With that Scott left, leaving just Alan still standing in front of his father with an innocent look on his face.

Jeff Tracy rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. "You are not absolved of guilt, Alan. You know far better than this and whilst Tintin may have suggested it to you, you should not have followed through."

"Oh I know father," Alan replied, his voice earnest. "I won't do it again."

Jeff sighed. "Go and get yourself cleaned up. You can help clean Thunderbird 4 tomorrow as she will need it after her outing today."

"Yes sir," Alan also departed the room, the door sliding shut firmly behind him. Jeff poured himself a stiff drink before sitting back behind his desk to continue with his business transactions.

-x-x-

Tintin was subdued for several days, in contrast to Alan's ever buoyant attitude. Lady Penelope left the day after the boating incident, a prior engagement preventing her from remaining on Tracy Island any longer. Tintin had retreated into her role as sometime secretary to Jeff and was found sorting through his correspondance and replying on his behalf to the numerous requests for charity. When not typing, she was helping Brains in the lab with his new invention, and they were slowly making progress. Scott was determined to help to restore Tintin's normally happy demeanor and this led to him also spending a lot of time in the laboratory with Brains. Without intending to, Scott also began helping Brains with the carbon dioxide battery. Slowly Tintin's mood improved, but as she had enjoyed working with the boys in the lab so much she still spent large amounts of time there.

A week after Lady Penelope's departure, Tintin was sat in the lounge reading a magazine while Virgil was practising scales on the piano. Jeff was at his desk reading through a detailed description of a recent innovation in aircraft design (though nothing compared to the Thunderbirds, of course). Alan bounded into the room, wearing swimming shorts and a loose T-shirt.

"Hey guys, anyone want to come swimming?"

"Not for me," Virgil replied, finishing off his scales and closing the baby grand. "I promised Brains that I would look over his planned upgrades to the pod release system with him."

"You may have to postpone Virgil," called Scott, coming into the lounge with a large smile on his face. "Brains is a bit busy right now, preparing for the Green Energy Symposium in Casablanca."

"What is that, Scott?" Tintin asked, putting her magazine aside as she took an interest in the conversation.

"Only that Brains has been invited to present on his new carbon dioxide converter in two weeks time and they have encouraged him to bring guests. Brains wants to know if you would like to come, Tintin?"

"Why would Tintin want to go to a boring symposium?" Alan asked, a scowl on his face. "She doesn't know anything about energy generation."

"Actually Alan, I know a lot about Brains latest invention and would be really interested to learn more," Tintin stated, glaring at the blond. "I would love to come Scott, but are you sure? Your brothers know far more about engineering than I do."

"Ah but you said it yourself Tintin, they don't know more about the carbon dioxide converter. Brains asked for you specifically, I will also be going as there is a presentation on safeguards in nuclear power that I want to hear."

"It is a great opportunity for you Tintin," Jeff Tracy stated, standing from behind his desk and joining the group in the lounge. "We can manage without you for a few days, you should go to Morocco with Brains and Scott."

Tintin smiled widely at Scott. "Well in that case, when do we leave?"

-x-x-

They left a couple of weeks later, the flight to Casablanca much shorter than it would have been without Brains modifications to the little plane. They arrived the evening before the symposium, Brains disappearing into his hotel room almost immediately to start preparing for the next day. Tintin and Scott stayed up talking for a few minutes but the fatigue of the journey meant that they too soon retired for the night.

The symposium was a complete success. Brains insisted on Tintin and Scott joining him on stage as he presented on his new design, explaining that without their help he would never have managed to get it so far advanced. Tintin even surprised herself by answering one of the questions from the audience at the end of the presentation, she had not realised quite how much she knew about Brains' new design.

They retired that evening to the bar in their hotel, a trendy modern setting that overlooked the ocean with a large terrace illuminated with bright blue fairy lights. The trio sat at the outside bar, chatting lightly about the successes of the day.

"Did you hear the questions from Robert Schramer, Brains? I know that dad has been trying to persuade him to invest in some of your work for a while, today was the most interest I've seen yet. Dad will be pleased."

"I-I noticed, Scott. He obviously, er, knows his stuff."

"You did really well though Brains, I think everyone went away impressed. And Tintin, of course." Scott smiled at her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "You were brilliant too, answering that question from the representative from Hobsworth industries. Good thing we brought you along with us."

"Yes, well some didn't think so." Tintin's smile didn't quite reach her eyes, and she cast her gaze down towards her hands.

"A-Alan is an idiot."

Both Scott and Tintin turned in surprise towards the usually very mildly spoken Brains."I agree Brains, but I thought that was my line!"

"We c-can both agree your brother is a blind p-prat, Scott."

Tintin shook her head with a smile, and then looked at the boys with her. "Thank you, but I am not here to mope, we are celebrating the success of your presentation today Brains, and I am not going to ruin it by being miserable. I am here to have a good time." She beckoned the bartender over to their position. "I would like cocktails please."

"Sure thing," the bartender replied. "But we have quite a list. What can I tempt you with?"

"Something…celebratory." Scott stated firmly, getting on board with Tintin's idea.

"An American, hmm?" The bartender replied. "And wanting a celebratory cocktail…I know just the thing. It's a speciality of mine I have been working on for a while now."

"I-I'm not so sure," Brains stuttered. "I d-don't normally drink that m-much..."

"Oh, we won't go mad," Tintin replied airily. "Just something to help us enjoy the trip on our last night."

"Three specialities coming up," the bartender called, putting three electric blue concoctions in front of them. Scott and Tintin tentatively sipped theirs, while Brains looked at his suspiciously. After seeing the wide grins on the others faces after tasting theirs though, he did summon up the courage to try it.

"This is great!" Scott said, swirling his glass to better see the bright colour. "What have you called it?"

"It's named after the place that inspired it - the Manhatten Blue."


	4. The Morning After

A soft knocking on her hotel room door finally moved Tintin from the sunlounger. Noticing that the prone figure in her bed was beginning to stir, she hurried over to open it before the knocking got louder.

Scott was stood on the other side on the open door. "Good morning Tintin, have you seen...Ah hello Brains."

The figure in Tintin's bed had finally woken, and was stood behind her clutching a sheet nervously.

"A-Ah, hello Scott, Tintin...I'll just...um..." and Brains fled down the corridor towards his own room, still clutching the sheet around himself.

Scott turning to Tintin with a raised eyebrow.

"I can explain..."

"You don't need to Tintin, you are of age and anything you get up to is your own decision." Here Scott paused, looking down the corridor after Brains with a pensive expression. "Are you alright?"

"I...think so." Tintin looked up at Scott from beneath her sunglasses. "You aren't mad at me?"

Scott laughed slightly. "What for, Tintin? Not waiting around forever for my useless brother? I am pleased you've found someone else that makes you happy, although I am slightly surprised it is Brains." Scott paused and looked down the corridor towards Brains room. "I guess that last night was...unplanned...but don't mess him around Tintin. I know you wouldn't do it to him, but he probably is thinking he is just a poor substitution for Alan right now, and he doesn't deserve that."

"No," Tintin agreed, her eyes soft. "He doesn't."

-x-x-

It was an awkward party that returned to Tracy Island. Brains barely said anything, keeping his head down and avoiding eye contact with everybody. When he did speak, his stutter was greatly pronounced and he spoke in very short sentences. Tintin was also subdued, and blushed at almost any provocation. Scott eventually gave up on making any form of conversation and just flew the plane home with some music, leaving his passengers lost in their own thoughts.

Back at Tracy Island Brains disappeared almost immediately to his laboratory. This wasn't unusual, the pressure of standing in front of a large audience was a bit too much for the shy engineer and he often retreated back into a place where he felt comfortable for some time after returning. Whilst the cause may be different this time, no one at Tracy Island thought anything odd about his manner except for Scott and Tintin.

Tintin also disappeared into her thoughts, in part due to Brains' continued distance and in part due to her own confusion. She didn't regret the events of the last night in Casablanca, but she wasn't sure how she really felt about it. She had always viewed Brains in a similar way to the way she viewed Scott, a kind older brother figure who she looked up to and could depend on. Now, that had irrevocably changed and she needed time to work out what would happen next.

Scott was left to debrief his father on the events of the conference by himself, but managed to convey how much of a success it had been and how well Brains and Tintin had performed. Jeff Tracy thanked him for the brief, before joining Gordon and Virgil at the pool side. Scott was left standing by himself in the lounge, wondering who to go and talk to first. Deciding that Tintin may want some time to herself, Scott headed towards the laboratory.

Brains was hunched over a monitor, creating a 3-D holographic image of several electrical components that he was trying to fit together to maximise efficiency. He didn't look up when Scott entered the lab, but when the eldest Tracy sat on a stool next to him the engineer jumped and knocked his coffee over the workbench, including several drawings that he hastily tried to mop dry.

"I-I'm sorry Scott, I d-didn't see you t-there." The coffee was still spreading over the desk, Brains' actions not helping as he was almost frantically scattering the sheets in his attempt to clear it up.

"Woah Brains, steady there," Scott handed him a roll of absorbant paper whilst starting to put an old newspaper down on the floor. "You're just making it worse, hang on a minute." Scott's words did nothing to calm the engineer down, more and more papers getting covered with the spilt drink. Scott gave up on mopping the mess, and instead pulled Brains away from the workbench and put his hands on Brains' shoulders. "Ok Brains, breathe. That's it. In...and out."

Slowly the frantic expression began to clear from Brains, and he started to take great gulping gasps of air at Scott's command. When he had calmed, Scott guided him over to a different area of the lab and sat him down.

"Care to explain what that is about?"

"I-I...those w-were important p-papers detailing the, ah, internal configuration of the coolant d-diffracter for the, er..."

"And I'm sure it is very important," Scott interrupted. "But you don't usually get a panic attack over spilt coffee. Care to tell me what is actually happening?"

"I, er, I, um that is I-I mean..." Brains tailed off, looking down at his hands.

"Right," Scott rubbed his temple with one hand tiredly, beginning to understand what the problem could be. "This has nothing to do with Tintin, does it?"

Brains face snapped straight up to look at Scott. "N-no, why would you think that? Has she said anything to you?"

"Brains, we've only been off the plane for a couple of hours. She hasn't had a chance to say anything to me, in fact she is hiding away as much as you are."

"S-she is hiding? Why?"

"Maybe because you haven't said anything to her all day and have just holed yourself up in the lab since you came back?" Scott replied, beginning to get a bit annoyed. Acting as a go-between for Brains and Tintin had not been his plan for the day when he got up this morning, and he was tired from the long flight. This all conspired to make him more impatient than he usually would be.

Brains was back to staring at his hands after the slightly snippy tone Scott had used. "I t-thought she wouldn't w-want to talk about it, t-that she would just want to f-forget it ever happened. S-she has Alan a-after all, I was just a substitute in the r-right place at the right t-time."

"Is that what you think of Tintin, really?" Scott asked, his tone stern. Brains looked away a bit sheepishly. Scott sighed again "I can't tell you what Tintin is thinking Brains, but I think you know she isn't the type to use someone because they are...convenient. The only way to find out how she actually feels is to talk to her."

"I-I will think about it. I'm sorry S-Scott, but I have to get back to w-work." Brains got up and moved back to his coffee soaked drawings, and began to see what he could salvage. Scott, realising that he had been dismissed, left the lab with a shake of his head.

-x-x-

The situation didn't improve much over the next few days. Brains was barely to be seen, while Tintin remained quiet and thoughtful. Scott had tried to approach her once but she had quietly rebuffed all attempts to get her to talk about what happened and he gave up soon after. Drawing a blank from all corners meant that Scott could do nothing but sit back and wait for somebody else to act, a frustration for the usually dynamic pilot. Unable to talk to anyone else on the Island, he waited until there was no one else around and then vented his frustrations to John.

John's long stints in Thunderbird 5 meant that he had become the unofficial agony aunt for the Island, the residents liked to call him to discuss problems as it was somehow easier than telling someone face to face. John was quiet by nature and would just sit quietly and allow someone to talk, making him the perfect audience. He and Scott were particularly close, and it was to John that Scott now turned for some advice.

"I just don't know what to do. Neither of them is speaking to the other, both seems to think that the other regrets it when I'm pretty sure that isn't the case, yet because they won't talk to each other they can't find out!"

"It's difficult Scott, you can't force them to talk to each other." John was sat in the main room of Thunderbird 5, his blue uniform slightly crumpled and faded after a particularly long stint. Thunderbird 3 had required some work after a relatively simple rescue to move some space junk out of the path of the orbitting Excelsior Hotel, but the debris had managed to take a chunk of Thunderbird 3 with it. This had caused Thunderbird 3 to miss its designated slot to allow Alan to relieve John, extending the latter's current stay abord Thunderbird 5 by eight weeks while repairs were carried out.

"Brains is convinced that he was just an Alan substitute – which I've told him is ridiculous – but I'm beginning to wonder myself. If Tintin genuinely likes him, and I'm sure she does, then why doesn't she just tell him so?"

John laughed at his older brother. "I know I don't have much experience with relationships Scott, but I'm pretty sure most chick flicks Gordon subjects us to are full of couples misunderstanding the motivations of each other. It will work out in time."

"I hope so," Scott grumbled, lounging back against the sofa. "It's giving me a headache."

"Speaking of relationships, Scott," John started, a mischievous grin on his face. "Seen Penelope recently?"

Scott shot his closest brother a warning glare. "Don't even go there John."

"Really? Everyone else seems to be under the impression that it is only a matter of time..."

Scott's warning glare had turned into one of mild alarm. "What do they think is a matter of time? I have never shown anything towards Penny other than friendship."

John shrugged on the camera. "They are almost certainly reading too much into it, Scott. But is it such a bad thing? You and Penny lead very similar lives and have very similar interests..." John tailed off here as he looked closely at his older brother. A look of pain had come over Scott's face, and John had a good idea that he knew the cause. "I'm sorry Scott, I shouldn't have suggested...I didn't realise how much it still affects you."

"No harm done," Scott's smile was strained and he looked tired as he signed off from the conversation. When he had gone John sat deep into his chair and stared at the Earth orbiting over his head while he tried to think about what to do. Unfortunately Thunderbird 3 was still undergoing repairs so Alan wouldn't be relieving him for another four weeks, John thought that maybe the environment at home might be sorted out by Alan's absence.

-x-x-

After two weeks Tintin was still confused. This hadn't been helped by Brains' continued insistence on avoiding her, apart from awkward greetings whenever their paths crossed in the corridor or around the dinner table, where he was still sat as far from her as possible. Tintin was amazed nobody else had noticed the awkwardness but aside from Scott they were still oblivious.

However, it was not in Tintin's nature to be miserable, so she decided to join Alan and Gordon in the pool when the next morning brought a customary bright and sunny day. The three of them started an impromptu game of piggy in the middle, with a giant inflatable ball being passed around by Gordon and Alan while Tintin tried her best to intercept. Virgil was sat on a lounger in the sun, providing helpful commentary on their game. He was mainly winding up Alan, which allowed Tintin to snatch the ball out from under his nose.

"I've got it! Piggy time, Alan."

Alan mock-grumbled while trying to hide a smile, and dutifully took his place in the middle of the pool.

"Good catch Tintin, go long!"

Gordon threw the ball with gusto, causing it to sail through the air towards the patio and Tintin to try to leap into the air to grab it – only to find herself pinned around the waist by Alan! "That's cheating!" she managed to gasp out through giggles, turning to see where the ball had landed. The grin slid off her face almost immediately as she realised it had rolled up to Brains' feet. The engineer was standing with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, having been finally persuaded to leave his laboratory by a cajoling Scott.

"Oh hi Brains," called Alan from behind Tintin. "Care to join us?"

Brains looked up slowly from the beach ball resting against his foot to the trio in the pool, Alan still with Tintin firmly esconsed in his arms. "I...ah...think I forgot t-to order a h-hydro compressor unit..." He trailed off and wandered back into the house.

Alan let go of Tintin and turned to Gordon. "What was that about?"

Gordon just shrugged. "No idea. Brains being Brains, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess. Well Tintin, as that was an unfair move, if you go get the ball back I'll keep being the piggy for another game."

"That's ok Alan, I think I've had enough now," Tintin smiled at the blond, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She turned and swam to the edge of the pool, hoisting herself out and grabbing her towel. "Enjoy your game," she called as she tossed the beach ball back into the pool where Alan dutifully caught it. After sharing a non-plussed glance with Virgil he went back to playing with Gordon.

Almost as soon as she re-entered the main house Tintin came across Brains, as he exited the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee. She stopped short, not sure what to say.

"Brains, I..."

"N-nice day to play in the p-pool," Brains interrupted, staring at the wall some way to Tintin's left. "You looked l-like you were h-having fun, w-with Alan and Gordon."

"Well I did Brains, but I wanted..."

"Ah there you are Brains," Jeff Tracy appeared at the end of the corridor, the business like expression on his face that he got when an International Rescue call came in. "Can you please collect Virgil and Gordon and meet me in the lounge? John has seen something and thinks we might need to be ready to lend a hand."

"O-of course, Mr Tracy." Brains disappeared back out onto the patio. Tintin went to shower and change out of her swinsuit before following to the lounge.

When Tintin entered the lounge, the only people in it were Alan and Jeff. Jeff was busy talking to John about the details of the mission so Tintin walked up to where Alan was stood watching the television.

"Who has gone on the rescue?"

"Oh, Virgil and Gordon have gone, with Scott providing support with Thunderbird 1. It's a fire on an oil rig, Gordon is going to try to stop the leak underwater while Virgil puts it out from above, look."

Tintin looked at the television and realised that it showed images of an oil rig with flames pouring up one side of it. It was not a desperate situation, but could easily become a bigger disaster unless help was provided. As she watched, the images disappeared to show a TV reporter in a newsroom.

"Sorry to lose the action folks, but International Rescue have just appeared on the scene and as we know we can't film them at work. NetX TV will be bringing you a live report of all the action on the fire on the Hope Coast refinery from our reporters on the scene, can you hear us Clara?"

"Hearing you loud and clear Dexter! I am in a helicopter, witnessing the fire at Hope Coast. Thunderbird 2 has just arrived, and what a machine! It is just setting down on the edge of the refinery that is not on fire, and – yes – it is trying to dowse the fire with some sort of foam! I repeat, it is trying to dowse the flames!"

Tintin and Alan stood listening avidly to the news reporter, when they heard something that made their blood run cold.

"The platform has exploded! Flames have engulfed the Thunderbird machine – I can't see it from here. I don't know how they could have survived!"


	5. Open My Eyes

_"The platform has exploded! Flames have engulfed the Thunderbird machine – I can't see it from here. I don't know how they could have survived!"_

__As one, Tintin and Alan rushed into Jeff's office, where he had just heard the bulletin._ _

__"Talk to me John, what is happening?"_ _

__"I can't get through to Thunderbird 2, I think whatever happened has fried their comms. From what Gordon has seen, the rest of the rig appears to have gone up in flames. Gordon thinks there is another leak further along the pipeline, but it's raining debris so he's had to get out of there."_ _

__"Gordon is in Thunderbird 4, trying to seal the oil leak," Alan hissed to Tintin while they listened to John's report. She nodded in acknowledgement, straining for further news._ _

__"Gordon has found...yes he has found another leak! He is going to try to seal this one, it is much bigger than the first so he thinks that should reduce the fire. I'm still struggling to get through to Thunderbird 2, Scott is going to fly closer to see if he can get in touch with it."_ _

__"Scott is acting as mobile control from on board Thunderbird 1," Alan's hiss was noted with a nod. John was still talking to Jeff, when he suddenly paused to listen to one of his other radio channels._ _

__"Scott is talking to Virgil!" Collectively, the room breathed a sigh of relief. "He says that they are ok...no wait, Virgil is ok...but something has happened to Brains."_ _

__"Brains!" Tintin cried, unaware the engineer was even on the mission._ _

__"Scott says...Virgil is taking Brains straight to the Sunbeam Memorial Hospital."_ _

__Tintin gasped. The Sunbeam Memorial Hospital was run by a very old friend of Jeff's, a surgeon called Micheal Clifford that was a specialist in head injuries and trauma. He was one of a very few people that knew that Jeff Tracy was the invisible head of International Rescue, any serious injuries and particularly those involving the head were taken straight to Sunbeam, usually with a flimsy cover story about picking up an injured civilian that was accepted without question by Micheal's small team of loyal staff. For Brains to be sent to Sunbeam meant that he must have suffered a pretty severe injury._ _

__"Thank you John, I will head over to Sunbeam myself. How are the others getting on with the fire?"_ _

__"Gordon has nearly sealed the leak, Scott says it seems to be holding. Thunderbird 2 has just blasted out of there – apparently their long range radio transmitter is down, but Scott can fly close enough to pick up the short range. Gordon is going to have a long swim home though, Virgil won't have time to stop and pick him up."_ _

__"Tell Gordon to head back as soon as he can, if he goes through the Panama canal it won't take too long and Virgil may yet be able to double back and pick him up if it goes smoothly at Sunbeam. I'll call Micheal and let him know what he's expecting."_ _

__"FAB father."_ _

__"Um... Mr Tracy?" Jeff looked up from his communicator to see Tintin approaching him nervously. "W-would it be ok if I came with you to Sunbeam? To help look after Brains, that is."_ _

__"Of course Tintin, go and pack a small bag. We will leave as soon as I've made a few calls."_ _

__"Thank you, Mr Tracy." Tintin left to do as Jeff had instructed, and began packing everything she could think of into a bag. Her heart was hammering and she felt slightly sick, but knew that she had to hold it together, at least for now. She was about to return to the living quarters when she detoured into Brain's room. She hadn't been in here often, but she was able to find some clothes to chuck into the bag. About to leave, she paused and saw a small stuffed dog that she knew Brains had owned since he was a small child that had been shoved to the back of a shelf. She grabbed it and added it to the clothes, intending to smile but instead being forced to choke a sob down._ _

__Her bag bulging, she found Jeff Tracy with his own small bag waiting for her. Alan had disappeared and Tintin was grateful – she looked like a mess, and didn't want too many probing questions._ _

__"Come on Tintin," Jeff called, heading towards the corridor that led to the aircraft bays. He eyed Tintin's huge bag suspiciously._ _

__"I...um...packed some things for Brains." The girl rushed to explain. "For if... no, _when_ he wakes up."_ _

__"That was thoughtful Tintin, I'm sure he will appreciate it. From what John's relayed I gather Brains was readying the Firefly to head outside of Thunderbird 2 when the fireball erupted, and some masonry that was thrown by the blast hit him. A very unlucky incident, hopefully it isn't too serious, but Dr Clifford kows his stuff."_ _

__Tintin just nodded and they climbed into the little plane that was waiting for them. She sat silently while they taxied and took off, making the most of the fact that Jeff was concentrating on flying the plane and getting air traffic clearance, meaning that he was too busy to talk._ _

__The flight from Tracy Island to California was relatively short, a lot of Tracy business was therefore conducted there and a chaffeur was waiting when they landed. Before she knew it they had arrived at the main entrance of Sunbeam Memorial Hospital._ _

__"Good afternoon," Jeff greeted the young lady at reception as they entered. "Could you please inform Dr Clifford that Jeff Tracy is here?"_ _

__"Of course," the receptionist stated in a clipped British accent, smiling at Jeff and picking up her telephone. His crystal blue eyes, so like Scott's, exuded charm backed up by his natural charisma and he often released it on unsuspecting secretaries. After one moment, the receptionist put her phone down. "He is expecting you in his office, would you like me to show you the way?"_ _

__"No, thank you. This young lady is here to visit a recent inpatient, I will leave her with you." Jeff turned to Tintin. "If you go and find Brains, I will join you after I speak with Mike."_ _

__"Of course, Mr Tracy," and Jeff was gone. The pretty receptionist looked at Tintin. "What is the name of the patient you are here to see?"_ _

__"Brains...Mr Hackenbacker."_ _

__"Follow me please," the receptionist led Tintin away from the reception desk and down a long corridor._ _

__"Thank you, Miss...?"_ _

__"Oh, just Annie will do." The receptionist smiled at Tintin. "I don't have a surname. Well I do, of course, but I'm actually a former patient from this hospital myself. Amnesia. I came in with a head injury and amnesia, the head injury is healed but the amnesia..." She shrugged. "I had nowhere to go, at least nowhere I remember, so Dr Clifford lets me stay on and work to earn my keep."_ _

__Tintin's eyes were wide. Once she had regained composure, she took a long look at the girl. She looked to be somewhere in her twenties, with long wavy brown hair and light brown eyes. She had very striking features, not features that would be forgotten easily. "What about missing persons notices?"_ _

__"Dr Clifford has tried, but there hasn't been anything. Either no one is looking for me, or they have assumed that I have died." Seeing Tintin's expression, Annie smiled wryly. "Apparently I was found washed up on the California coast, I could have come from anywhere."_ _

__"But you remember your name?"_ _

__"Not really...but Annie feels...almost right somehow, so I stuck with it. Ah, here we are." Annie stopped outside a door that stood slightly ajar. "Your friend should be in there, would you like me to leave you to it?"_ _

__"Yes please."_ _

__"If you need anything, call for me." Annie's brown eyes were earnest and Tintin felt a surge of warmth._ _

__"Thank you."_ _

__Annie squeezed Tintin's shoulder before disappearing, and Tintin couldn't help but think that Annie maybe understood a little of what she felt._ _

__With some trepidation as she wasn't sure what she would see, Tintin edged the door of Brains' room open. She crept in, covering her mouth with her hand as she saw the figure in the bed. Brains was lying with his head swathed in a large bandage, still covered in soot and dirt. His face was covered in a strange purple gel that Tintin recognised as a burn healer, similar to something the International Rescue crew carried with them on all missions._ _

__"Oh Brains," she murmered, gently lifting a stray lock of hair that had escaped the bandage away to the side. She thought the bandage looked like Virgil's work, hastily applied before the flight home. She had seen many like it back on Tracy Island, but not normally with such a still figure underneath. Noticing a small sink in the corner of the room, she wetted a cloth and began to gently clean some of the ash and soot from Brains' face. Tintin was intent on her task, so much so that she didn't realise she had been joined in the room._ _

__"We do have nurses that can do that."_ _

__Tintin jumped, nearly knocking Brains' glasses off. Recovering, she delicately picked up the blue edged spectacles and placed them on a small table by the bed. As she did so, she noticed that the frames had cracked along one side and made a mental note to ask one of the boys to bring another pair from the Island. She turned to see that Jeff Tracy had come into the room, accompanied by a short man with dark black hair and wire rimmed glasses._ _

__"Tintin, may I introduce Dr Micheal Clifford. Mike, this is Miss Tintin Kyrano."_ _

__"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kyrano."_ _

__"The pleasure is mine, Dr Clifford."_ _

__"Please, call me Mike. I can see that you have started to attend to our recent arrival. The nurses haven't had a chance to clean him up yet, I'm afraid."_ _

__"Oh, of course," Tintin stammered, hiding the cloth behind her back with one hand. "I just wanted to help a little."_ _

__"By all means continue," Dr Clifford had a twinkle in his eye as he turned to Jeff. "Preliminary scans show that there will be no lasting damage, we will keep him asleep for a day or two to allow him sime time to heal. Will you be staying with us?" The last question was addressed to Tintin, who had been listening intently. She started, and looked between the two men._ _

__"Yes, please, I mean, if that is alright, Mr Tracy?"_ _

__"I can manage without you for a few days, Tintin. Stay here if you like, Brains will be glad when he wakes up."_ _

__"Thank you," Tintin gave a relieved smile, she had been worried that Jeff wouldn't see any point in her staying if Brains would be asleep. But she had to stay, otherwise he may wake without her there._ _

__Dr Clifford had made a quick phone call and soon Annie appeared at the door. "Can you please show Tintin to one of our spare rooms Annie? She will be staying a few days."_ _

__"Of course," the receptionist sent Tintin a friendly smile. "This way please."_ _

__Tintin was led into another room just across the corridor that was made up freshly. "We often have concerned relatives staying, so we installed some guest rooms near the patients' rooms." Annie explained, opening another door to show Tintin the bathroom. "It will be a bit noisy, but I imagine you would want to be aware if something was happening anyway."_ _

__"Oh yes," replied Tintin in her musical voice. Annie moved to leave the room._ _

__"I will leave you to it. There is a canteen to the south end of the building where you can get food at any time of day, and there is a lounge area just down the corridor if you want some company or just a new environment."_ _

__"Thank you," Tintin called as Annie left. She then sat tiredly on the bed, thinking that there wasn't much point returning straight away if Brains was being tended to. A quick knock came at the door and Jeff poked his head inside._ _

__"I've finished talking to Mike and I'm going to head over to the office to catch up with some work. Will you be alright here or would you like a hotel?"_ _

__"Oh no Mr Tracy, I'm fine here. This way I will be on hand if Brains needs anything."_ _

__"You're a good girl Tintin. I will be back in the morning, get yourself a good night's sleep."_ _

__Jeff left, and Tintin was alone again. Looking at the time, she realised that she had missed dinner. She wasn't hungry anyway, so she changed into simple blue pyjamas and got into bed. Just before going to sleep, she did something that she didn't normally do – she prayed to whoever was listening that Brains would be ok._ _


	6. I’m dying to see how this one ends

Tintin woke up to find herself in a small bed, tangled in crisp white sheets. For a moment she was disorientated but then remembered that she was still at Sunbeam Memorial hospital. This was the third morning that she had woken in her small room...which meant that today was The Day! The Day that Brains was being woken up from his induced coma!

She leapt up, only to fall on the floor with a bang as her legs were still wrapped up in the bedding. Cursing under her breath she climbed back up, pulling her hair back into a simple ponytail. While at the hospital she had foregone her usual routine of styling her hair into an elaborate up do as there was no one to see it other than the nurses who were too preoccupied with their charges to care.

After a quick stop to grab a bagel for breakfast, she crept into Brains' room. He was still lying as he had been on the first day, although the large bandage had been replaced by a small square of gauze that covered stitches on his temple. His hair had been shaved to keep the wound clean, leaving him looking very lopsided. The burn paste had done its work and had been removed, his face clear now except for a shadow where he had not yet been shaved this morning. Tintin curled up in the chair that had been placed next to his bed for her use, and began reading to him. This had been her routine every day so far, and even though today was the day he would hopefully be waking up she saw no reason to vary it.

She was caught up in the book when the door opened and Dr Clifford entered. He waved at her to continue while he bustled around the room, checking instruments and murmuring notes to a nurse that was following him. When he finished his checks he straightened and looked over towards Tintin, who put the book down and watched him expectantly.

"Everything looks good, we will reduce the anaesthetic gradually this morning and let him come around in his own time."

The nurse bustled about as the doctor spoke, carrying out his instructions. Tintin just nodded in acknowledgement, as Dr Clifford went to leave he squeezed her shoulder. "I think one of Jeff's boys will be here soon and it's going to be a while before he wakes. Why don't you take a walk?"

"Oh I couldn't," the girl replied. "What if Brains does wake up and no one is here? I...I think I'll stay and read to him a bit more."

"Well ok," the doctor eyed the large hardback book she had been reading. "We have a small selection of fiction books in the lounge, you don't have to read Osmond's Theory of Sentience Development in Advanced Robotics."

"I chose it because Brains would like it," Tintin replied, rubbing her hand across the cover of it almost reverently. "I wanted to pick something he would be interested in, to encourage him to wake up."

Dr Clifford didn't reply but gave her shoulder an extra squeeze as he left the room, the nurse following soon after. Tintin returned to her book, engrossed in the technical language and describing the diagrams out loud to the still sleeping engineer. She was so caught up in the descriptions that she started violently when a styrofoam cup was shoved under her nose. She looked up into the warm brown eyes of Virgil.

"I thought you might need a cup of tea by now, according to the nurses you haven't left this room all morning!"

"I didn't want to leave him alone," Tintin explained, closing her book. "How are you? How is everyone on the Island?"

"They're all fine, Scott said to say hello. He would have come himself, but Penny arrived for another flying visit." There was a tightness to Virgil's expression as he said this that Tintin didn't quite understand, but she kept quiet and let him continue. "They've finally fixed Thunderbird 3 and Alan will be off in a couple of days, I think he'll be over to see you and Brains before he goes." Now it was Tintin's turn to feel awkward, she hadn't had time to think too much about Alan and her personal dilemma since she had been on the mainland. Virgil seemed to take pity on her. "Alan knows you've been busy Tintin, he understands that you haven't had time to call home."

Looking around, Virgil found a small plastic white chair and dragged it over to the armchair Tintin was sat in. He sat heavily, sipping from his own white styrofoam cup. Tintin assumed that it probably contained coffee, as most of the inhabitants of Tracy Island ran on strong coffee. "How is he?" Virgil asked, gesturing towards Brains and breaking the silence.

"They have reduced his anaesthetic this morning, the doctor says he should wake up any time." As Tintin spoke her gaze remained fixed on Brains' face, as though willing some sign that he would come around. Virgil watched her, sympathy mingling with concern in his expression.

"Go and get out of here for a bit Tintin."

"Oh, I couldn't..."

"Yes, you could," Virgil interrupted. "You've been here for three days straight, go and freshen up and head to the mall just down the street. The car that brought me is waiting outside, tell the driver that I told him to take you. I'll call if anything changes here."

Tintin hesitated, unsure.

"Go on!" Virgil stood and practically shooed her from the room but not before she managed to pass Virgil the engineering book on her way out.

"I've been reading that to him, I've marked the page I'm at so you don't miss any out. A-and, you will call me if he moves?"

"Of course I will," Virgil reassured her, pushing her gently towards the small room she had been inhabiting. "Enjoy yourself, get a change of scene, socialise with the conscious for a bit. Then come back refreshed, ready to talk to Brains when he wakes ok?"

Tintin nodded and entered her little room, worry and doubt still clouding her mind. Virgil re-entered Brains room and closed the door firmly behind him, so Tintin wouldn't be tempted to linger. He walked over to the chair and opened the book Tintin had given him. He pulled a face, closed it again and pulled out his phone. "Wow that is heavy going, she must have grown fond of you during your lab sessions together. I think maybe a bit of jazz will help instead." Propping his phone on the windowsill, Virgil programmed it to play one of his favourite jazz artists and sat with his head back and his eyes closed, relaxing to the music interspersed by the sounds of medical machines beeping.

-x-x-

Annie was working at the front desk when Tintin walked past, and on an impulse Tintin asked if she also wanted to go shopping. After checking that she could get some time away, Annie happily accepted and the two girls headed to the mall. Within about five minutes Tintin discovered that Annie really had no idea about fashion or clothes, and then spent a couple of hours educating her new-found friend on the latest fashion trends. Despite living for the last couple of years on a remote island in the Pacific, it was a remote island that was frequented by one of the most fashionable socialites that had ever existed and this meant that Tintin was very knowledgeable about the popular designers on the catwalks of London and Paris. She readily imparted some of this knowledge now on to Annie, helping choose some outfits for her new friend and also indulging herself in a new deep red dress that really complimented the deep brown of her hair and eyes. Tintin enjoyed the outing and she had to admit that Virgil was right, she really did need time away from the hospital and she was glad for Annie's company. They grabbed a quick lunch at the food court in the centre of the mall before heading back so that Annie could start her afternoon and evening shift behind the front desk.

Tintin walked straight to Brains' room, finding Virgil watching while a nurse was checking monitors around Brains. Virgil smiled at her when she entered. "The nursemaid returns! And you have wonderful timing, Nurse thinks Brains will be waking up at any moment."

The nurse attending Brains smiled at Tintin and rolled her eyes at Virgil's antics. "He is starting to respond to stimulae, I think it will not be long before he is back with us. I am going to leave him with you, but please call when he wakes."

When the nurse had left Virgil turned to Tintin with a smile. "I have news to cheer you up Tintin, Alan called while you were out to say that he is visiting later today. His flight to '5 has been scheduled for tomorrow and he wants to see you before he goes. I think he has a big night planned." Virgil winked at Tintin, relishing the embarrassed look on her face. Tintin didn't know what to think, she felt like she should be pleased to see Alan but instead a knot of dread settled in her stomach. To distract herself she looked over to Brains.

"Virgil I think...I think I just saw him move!"

All thoughts of the evening forgotten, Tintin rushed over to Brains and gently took one of his hands. "Brains...Brains can you hear me?"

As Tintin and Virgil watched closely, Brains' eyes fluttered slightly before he opened them, immediately squinting at the bright light. "Tintin?" he murmured, not really aware yet of his surroundings.

"I'm here Brains, be careful. You've had a bit of a bump but you are going to be ok." While Tintin was soothing the engineer, Virgil disappeared from the room to fetch the nurse. He returned with both a new nurse and Dr Clifford. Tintin reluctantly relinquished her place by the bed, allowing the professionals room as they swarmed around the patient to check the machines. Brains was blinking his eyes, trying to see what was going on but unable to make out anything more than vague shapes without his glasses. He reached out his hand and Tintin swept forward and caught it, squeezing lightly and keeping hold despite the activity around them. Eventually the nurse stepped back, happy with the readings he was getting from the machines. The doctor moved to the side of the bed facing Tintin.

"Brains, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes, I can. B-but, who are you? Where a-am I?"

"My name is Dr Clifford, and you've given us quite a scare Brains. Can you tell me what the last thing that you remember is?"

"I...I...remember being on a-a mission, with V-Virgil. Then...then...I don't know. I don't know!"

"It's ok Brains," Dr Clifford spoke soothingly, trying to reassure his patient. "You took a knock to your head, and we've kept you asleep for a little while to help you heal. A little memory loss is normal in these cases, but I'm pleased that it doesn't seem to be significant. You are at the Sunbeam Memorial Hospital now."

"I-I see," Brains murmured, trying to look around. Tintin noticed him struggling and picked his glasses up off a cabinet to the side of the bed in order to place them gently on his face. Brains blinked again, before focussing on the girl next to him.

"T-thank you, Tintin," and he looked around the room now that he could make out the faces of the figures around him. He looked a little overwhelmed by the amount of people crowded around his bed, but Dr Clifford and the nurse soon left once they were happy that their patient was progressing as expected. Virgil grabbed a chair and pulled it alongside the one Tintin was occupying.

"Welcome back to the living!"

Brains tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. "I d-don't feel like the living r-right now."

"Oh poor Brains, but you must have a terrible headache after your accident. Perhaps you would prefer it if we left you to some peace and quiet?" Brains looked torn by Tintin's suggestion, not feeling capable of conversation but not wanting to be left alone. Seeing his indecision, Tintin added, "Or perhaps I could read to you?" She pulled out the large robotic book she had been reading to him for the last few days.

"Osmonds?" Brains face brightened as he saw the title. "I-I would love t-that Tintin, I p-particularly love his theory of learning intelligent behaviours t-through the use of the Feynmann dynamic."

"I thought you would like it," Tintin laughed, opening it at the chapter Brains enthused about. "Chapter Seventeen: Feynmann Dynamics – Can a robot truly learn? Eminent physicist of the twentieth century, Richard Feynmann, started the first steps to developing variational perturbation theory; little did he know that in the late 2100s we would be using those same principles to take the first steps towards artificial intelligence."

Virgil didn't hear any more about the Feynmann dynamics, as he slipped out of the hospital room in search of another cup of coffee. It wasn't that he couldn't do advanced engineering (although nowhere near as advanced as Brains or, he was coming to suspect, Tintin) he just didn't find it enthralling enough to sit through for more than a sentence or two without a significant quantity of coffee. He personally preferred something a bit more hands on instead of theory, actually making things.

He was still sitting in a coffee room, nursing his second or third cup (really, who was counting?) when the doors flew open and the whirlwind that was his youngest brother blew in.

"Virgil! Dad told me that Brains was awake and I came to see if he was ok. Dad would have come but something came up with the new investor of his thingummy. Have I missed much?"

"Just Tintin fuelling Brains' first love," Virgil remarked drily, pushing himself up out of his chair with a minor grunt. Only minor, as after all he was the middle brother and hadn't quite reached the grand old ages of Scott and John.

"First love?" Alan questioned, a slight frown marring his features.

"Engineering," Virgil elaborated, internally rolling his eyes at Alan. "She is reading to him from a book as thick as one of grandma's triple decker sandwiches. He's probably dropped off to sleep by now so we should probably see if Tintin wants a break."

He led Alan towards the sickroom Brains had occupied for several days now.

Contrary to Virgil's expectations, Brains hadn't fallen asleep. Neither was he simply lying and listening to Tintin read as he had been when Virgil left. Instead, he was propped up on a pillow engaged in a heated debate with the brunette, waving his arms and gesticulating as he made a long and convoluted point. The words were going over Virgil's head, and Alan's too if the scowl etched on the blonde's face was anything to judge by, but Tintin seemed fully engaged and when Brains finished she responded in type. Both of them hadn't noticed the arrival of the Tracy brothers. Brains listened to Tintin's argument, then pointed triumphantly at her.

"S-see! That's I why I say you need to go and get a PHD in advanced robotics! Y-you know more about it t-than most professors, a-and you could make real advancements in the field."

"Why would Tintin want to go back to university?" Alan spoke up now, still frowning at the pair of them. "She lives on Tracy Island with us, and helps dad out."

The debating pair were obviously surprised to see Alan in the room, and Tintin dropped her eyes to the large tome she was reading, closing it gently. "Of course Alan, Brains just suggested it as an idea."

Brains was also now staring at his hands, looking very pale and tired as the adrenaline from his discussion wore off.

"Well, it's a nice idea though," Virgil said slowly, thinking it over. "Goodness knows she's helped you enough in the lab to have a really good understanding, and if you really wanted to stay on the island Tintin I'm sure some institutes will offer remote working."

The brunette brightened at the thought. "Really Virgil, you think so?"

"Sure," the middle brother replied casually, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Something to think about anyway."

"But what will dad do?" Alan objected. "Tintin helps him out with all of his paperwork."

Virgil just shrugged. "Dad managed fine when Tintin was travelling, before International Rescue started, and that was probably busier as we were setting up. He'd manage again." Seeing that his youngest brother wasn't sold on the matter, and that Brains was looking more and more tired, Virgil changed the subject. "Say Alan, weren't you going to take Tintin out tonight? We probably need to leave Brains to get some rest."

The abrupt change of subject brightened Alan's expression immediately. "Oh sure, I hope you don't mind Tintin but I booked us a couple of hotel rooms, I thought we could go out to dinner and a show. You won't need to stay here now that Brains is awake."

"Y-you stayed here?" Brains was much quieter than usual, but his gaze was piercing as he looked at the brunette. Tintin was still looking at her hands, a faint blush travelling up her cheeks.

"She's been here for as long as you," Virgil replied for her. "Staying in a room across the corridor I think. Not exactly the lap of luxury."

"It was fine," Tintin murmured quietly.

"Well, you can go and pack it up now." Alan said. "We've got rooms in the Marriott tonight, then we can go back to the Island tomorrow so you can see me off."

"Very well Alan." Tintin stood and placed the large book on Brains's bedside table, well within reach. "Will you be OK, Brians?"

"O-of course, Tintin. Enjoy your night out." Brains smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and he kept his gaze on his hands, where he was now brushing the place where his watch usually sat. Tintin hesitated for a fraction of a second, concern floating in her eyes.

"Come on Tintin, we'll miss our reservation if you don't hurry, you still need to get dressed." Brains didn't look up, so Tintin turned and left with a quick farewell. Virgil watched them go, shaking his head at them. "Boy, one day they'll get their act together. So Brains, did you want me to carry on reading to you? I'm not as good as Tintin but I can give it a go."

"A-actually Virgil, I'm feeling pretty t-tired." Brains muttered, leaning back on his pillows. Studying him, Virgil could see how exhausted he looked.

"Sure Brains, if you don't mind I'll head on back to the Island. I'll be back out first thing though – we're just a little short staffed if Alan is over here tonight."

"O-OK, Virgil. Thank you." Brains was already nearly asleep, so Virgil quietly left the room to fly back to Tracy Island for the night.

-x-x-

Tintin looked at her reflection in the mirror. The hotel room was easily four times the size of the room she had been staying in at the hospital, and it had been nice to luxuriate in the large bath when they had arrived. Alan had gone to arrange something and left Tintin plenty of time to get ready, so she had indulged a bit. She had even taken the time to dress up her hair in a style that complemented her dress, which was the red number she had bought in the mall earlier that day with Annie.

As Tintin was preparing to pack up her belongings she had bumped into the receptionist, who on hearing her plans had insisted Tintin leave the clean up to her. She then encouraged Tintin to take the red dress and matching shoes to dress up in for dinner, at a posh restaurant. If Tintin had seen a flash of momentary surprise when she introduced Alan to Annie, then her new friend had hidden it quickly and warmly greeted him. So now Tintin was dressed in the pretty red dress with matching heels, hair elaborately wound up on top of her head and threaded with red flowers to complement. Her make-up was done, and she looked ready for a night on the town. So why did she feel like something was missing?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she opened it to find Alan beaming behind a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "For you, Tintin."

"Oh Alan, you shouldn't have!" Tintin exclaimed, taking the flowers from him. "These are exquisite. Please, come in while I find a vase."

Alan entered her room, curiously peering around as though expecting to find it significantly different to his own. "It's no problem Tintin, I wanted to give you something nice, and a fun evening. I know it must have been real boring watching after Brains all this time. Not to mention all that time you spent holed up in his lab on the Island."

Tintin stilled in the middle of setting the flowers into water. "I enjoy spending time with Brains in his lab."

"Yes, but it can't be that interesting for you Tintin. No fun parties, no socialising. No night clubs. I remember how much you enjoyed that time in Paris with Penny and that English guy."

Tintin straightened and looked at Alan. "I do enjoy clubs sometimes, Alan. But I also enjoy the challenge of working on Brains's latest invention."

"Sure," Alan shrugged a little. "But I've neglected you, I'm sorry. I got so caught up with the glamour of Penny visiting I didn't see what was under my nose the whole time, and that was you Tintin. We've been friends for so long, I think I've finally realised it might be time to take things a little further." The blond looked sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I'm just sorry it's taken me such a long time to see it. Anyway, enough of that - tonight is about having fun. Let's go to dinner and have a show, maybe talk later and see where the night takes us." And he held his arm out for her to take.

Standing there with Alan's grin facing her as he stood in his suit waiting to escort her to dinner and goodness knows what else, Tintin thought about the possibilities. Thought about spending nights having fun with Alan, going to parties and restaurants and shows and generally enjoying the fast life he had a bit of a reputation for. She thought about the fun, the freewheeling way that he lived his life and how he would be able to take her along with him, becoming the socialite she had always harboured a bit of a dream of, on the arm of the man that she had been crushing after for so long.

Tintin thought of all of this, and came to the realisation that she had finally made her decision. She knew exactly where she wanted to be.


	7. The Clouds Shifted

Annie looked up with surprise as Tintin burst into the foyer of Sunbeam Memorial hospital, still dressed in a red cocktail dress and sparkling black heels, clutching a small bag of clothing. "Is my room still free?" Tintin gasped, leaning over whilst gasping for breath. The thought fleetingly crossed her mind that she really should work out more, as the hotel was only down the street from the hospital. Annie stood up and walked over close to her, adjusting one of the flowers in her hair and taking the bag from her.

"Of course it is, come on." Tintin tripped after her through the hospital, Annie slowing slightly when she realised that Tintin couldn't quite keep up in her heels. They stopped in the corridor that Tintin was becoming very familiar with. "The cleaners won't be here until the morning, so it should be how you left it. I will get a clean change of clothes sent to you in the morning too."

"Thank you so much," Tintin cried, hugging Annie tightly. Surprised, it took Annie a second or two to respond, before she tentatively encircled her arms around Tintin in reply.

"It's no problem, what else are friends for. You'll have to let me know what happened later." She looked towards Brains' room. "I'd go in and say hello. Dinner should be on its round, so he'll be awake. I'll request something for you as well."

"Looking like this?" Tintin gestured to her red dress and elaborate makeup. Annie looked her over appraisingly, noting the flushed face and excited eyes.

"Exactly like that," and Tintin was gently shoved towards the closed door that led to Brains' room. Taking a deep breath, she reached forwards and opened it.

Brains was sat propped up by his pillows again, a tray of food placed on the bed in front of him with little legs holding it clear of his torso. He looked clean shaven now and fresher, he must also have made the most of the hospital facilities while Tintin was at the hotel doing the same.

He turned towards the door when she entered, belatedly she realised she hadn't even knocked in her nervousness, and in surprise he dropped his fork back onto a pile of something that looked suspiciously like watery mashed potato. "Tintin?" He exclaimed in surprise. "W-what are you d-doing here? Where is Alan?"

"I...um..." Tintin fiddled with the clutch bag she had brought in with her, suddenly feeling very shy. "I don't really know."

"I-I don't understand, Tintin. D-don't know what you're doing here, or where A-Alan is?"

"Um...both? I mean... I don't know where Alan is but that's not important, not really." Tintin took a deep breath and hastily shoved her clutch bag on a small table at the edge of the room. "I mean, it's probably very important to Alan, but not really to me Brains, not anymore. You see I was thinking earlier and I don't want to go for dinner with Alan, not really. I'm not sure I want to do anything much with Alan. I would much rather be here instead. With you."

This was all said really quite quickly, with a big rush of breath. It took Brains a couple of seconds to digest what she said, and a couple of seconds more to actually process what it meant. Meanwhile, Tintin stood shyly in the doorway, wringing her hands in fear of rejection.

She could tell when Brains finished thinking, because his eyes opened almost impossibly large, magnified further by his blue glasses. "Y-you mean...?" He couldn't even articulate the words he wanted to say, and Tintin took pity on him. Summoning all of her courage, she crossed the gap and gently took his face between her hand, leaning forward to press her lips against his.

It was a chaste kiss, given that Brains was still in hospital and only just recovering from a head injury so severe he'd been placed in an induced coma, but it was one full of promise. When Tintin stood up, Brains smiled shyly at her.

"I-I was going to watch a lecture given by Charles Oberforth on the dichotomy of power and environmentalism. I know it might be boring, but if you'd want to, you can join me."

"I would love that Brains," Tintin replied warmly, meaning every word. Brains gestured to the television, set into the ceiling for the comfort of the usually reclining patients.

"It m-may not be very comfortable for you," he stated with concern.

"Oh don't worry about that Brains, I have the perfect solution." Tintin replied, kicking off her heels. She sat on the bed next to him before laying down and placing her head on his shoulder, one hand resting gently on his chest. "There, I can see perfectly well now. Are you ok with this?"

"M-more than ok," Brains murmured in wonder, tentatively moving his hand up to stroke her hair. He delicately removed the flowers one by one and placed them on his side table before turning his attention to the television. "Much more than ok."

-x-x-

Virgil wandered through the halls of Tracy Villa, idly munching a slice of toast. He hadn't long been back from the mainland, having stopped to do some chores for Kyrano that he hadn't wanted to bother his daughter with. Because of this, he had missed Alan's video rant to Gordon and was very surprised to run into his youngest brother coming up from the runway.

"Alan! What are you doing back here? Where is Tintin?"

Alan just pushed past his older brother, face like thunder. Knowing Alan's moods, Virgil realised he wouldn't get any information out of his youngest brother and instead made his way to the lounge where he found Scott reading.

"Where is everybody? And why is Alan here? Where is Tintin?"

Scott put his book down, carefully folding the edge of a page over as he did so, a habit that set Virgil's teeth on edge. "Slow down there Virgil. The answer to your questions are: Around, because Tintin ditched him, somewhere on the mainland."

"Hang on there Scott, that's a lot to unpick."

"Well, dad is actually relaxing on the beach for once, I think Gordon is in the gym, Grandma arrived while you were out and is with Kyrano in the kitchen and Penelope left earlier with Parker. That leaves Alan, who you must have seen and I assume is going to sulk in his room, because Tintin turned down his night out, politely handed him back the key to the hotel room he'd booked and disappeared. I think dad is a bit concerned, but I'd bet any amount of money that she's gone back to Sunbeam Memorial to keep an eye on Brains."

"Why would she do that? The doc said he was recovering well. When I left he was sleeping again."

Scott shrugged and stood from the sofa, cracking his back loudly and walking over to the drinks cabinet. He poured a dark whiskey into a pair of engraved glasses, added some ice and held one out to Virgil who took it gratefully. "You know how conscientious Tintin is, and she and Brains have become good friends recently."

Virgil nodded as he sipped his drink slowly. "And it's not exactly like Alan has been going out of his way to woo her, or even been particularly nice to her, at least not until today." He looked towards the corridor that led to the bedrooms of Tracy Villa. "Maybe this will be the kick up the rear he's needed to stop taking her for granted."

Scott raised his eyebrows slightly but didn't disagree. He finished his drink and put the glass down on the bar. "I think I'm going to turn in Virgil. Are you heading back in the morning?"

"I told Brains I would - and Doc said that if he sees the improvement he's expecting then Brains may be able to come back home tomorrow to continue his recovery here. It'll be good to have him back, it feels a lot less... industrious on the Island when he isn't around."

"That's true enough. Alright Virgil, I might join you tomorrow morning if that's ok. G'night."

"Night Scott," Virgil called back, still nursing his whiskey as he watched his elder brother leave the room. He swirled the contents around in the decanter, watching the light bounce around the amber liquid. With the eye of an artist, he wondered if he would be able to capture it in a painting, the casual play of light on glass.

Realising he was almost certainly overthinking things, he quickly downed the rest of his whiskey and cleared up the glasses. Something was bothering him, some small feeling he'd had at the hospital that he couldn't quite place and that had only intensified with seeing Alan and the conversation with Scott. It was nebulous and almost laughable, but a small part of him began to wonder whether maybe, just maybe, his youngest brother had left it too late.

-x-x-

First thing the following morning a still scowling Alan took off with Scott co-piloting in Thunderbird 3. Not long after that John came back to Tracy Island, all long limbed and willowy. He looked exhausted though Virgil noticed, having got up before dawn to see off Alan in the rocket. After a quick greeting with his family where he extracted promises to fill him in on all the gossip later, sure enough John disappeared off for a long, hot bath and a sleep in his own bed.

Not long later Virgil and Scott were taking off in one of the small planes, aiming to get to California first thing to find out how Brains was and where Tintin had disappeared to.

On entering the hospital, they were greeted by a different receptionist to the rather lovely looking brunette that had been there when Virgil visited the day before. This one was grey haired and curt, barely looking up from his computer as he waved the Tracy brothers through into the hospital proper.

Virgil looked at his older brother. Both had been up very early to see off Alan, after all. "Coffee?"

"Please," came the reply, and Virgil led the way to the cafe in the centre of the hospital. It was still early, so the queue mainly consisted of hospital workers. A group of female nurses clustered together giggled and watched the brothers pass - a pair of Tracys cut a dashing sight amongst the scrubs. Essential supplies in hand, they returned to the wing where Brains was housed and found his room quiet, door still shut. Virgil rapped on it smartly.

They waited, but no discernible sound came from the room beyond. "What'd ya think?" Virgil asked.

"I don't know, he could be still asleep. Wouldn't hurt to go check on him just in case, would it?" Scott replied. With a shrug, Virgil opened the door and entered the room, stopping so abruptly at the sight inside that Scott ran into the back of him. "What-" the elder brother started, then tailed off as he also saw the sight in front of them.

Curled up on the hospital bed was not one, but two people. Brains still had a bandage on a part of his head, which was turned to the side towards his companion. His arms were wrapped around her. Tintin, in a brilliant red dress, was curled up facing his chest and breathing softly as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Scott moved his brother back into the corridor and gently reached forward to close the door softly, leaving them entwined together on the hospital bed.


	8. The Reckoning

For the second time in as many months Tintin awoke with an arm wrapped around her, but this time there was no confusion or panic. Instead there was a deep feeling of contentment as she burrowed deeper, feeling the arm tighten around her and pull her close. She didn't need to open her eyes to know Brains was awake, one of his hands was idly stroking her hair again in a way that she decided she really rather liked. He smelt of hospital and disinfectant but underneath it all, a mix of oil and dust and his aftershave that came together to just be Brains.

"G-good morning, Tintin." Brains still sounded half asleep and when Tintin raised herself onto her elbow to look at him she could see that his eyelids were still drooping.

"Good morning, Brains," she replied, leaning forwards to give him a peck on the cheek.

"I-I didn't want to disturb you, but Virgil said he would come back this morning a-and I didn't know if you wanted to be found here."

Tintin looked down at Brains, cupping his cheek tenderly. "You are probably right. It's not that I don't want them to know, but there will be a lot of questions that I don't want to answer right now."

"E-exactly" Brains smiled to show that he understood and was not at all upset. "Besides, I think they'll be coming around with breakfast soon."

"I'll be right back after I've freshened up," promised Tintin, leaning forward for one last kiss before turning to the door. She retrieved the clutch bag from its position by the door and headed out.

She turned and closed the door softly behind her, trying not to make too much noise and alerting the hospital staff to where she had been last night. She then started to walk towards her small room – and ran straight into a tall, muscular torso. A tall, muscular torso that happened to belong to Virgil Tracy.

"Good morning, Tintin," Virgil said airily. "Going somewhere?"

She spluttered, not quite sure how to respond when she heard chuckles coming from behind her. She spun to see Scott sat in one of the corridor chairs holding a hot drink. He put his hands up in surrender when she glared at him.

"Hey, we're not the ones sneaking around in last night's clothes here," Virgil stated, raising his eye brows at her. Tintin looked down at her crumpled red dress, bare feet and clutch bag.

"Um..."

"Let her be Virgil, she can tell us all about it after she freshens up." Scott leaned back and took a swig of his drink, eyes closed against the harsh light in the hospital corridor.

"Fine," Virgil huffed, stepping out of her way. Tintin shot a grateful glance at Scott and disappeared into a room further down the corridor. Virgil sat next to Scott, swiping his own coffee off of a small table.

"You let her off the hook easily. I wanted to know what on Earth is going on here!"

"You mean it isn't obvious to you?" Scott watched his brother closely out of the corner of his eye. "You are normally one of the first to pick up on these things, after all."

"Well, yes, but..." Virgil suddenly looked tired, passing his hand across his eyes. "I did yesterday just have this gut feeling, but dismissed it as ludicrous. I mean Tintin! And Brains!" He then voiced the thought that both Tracy brothers shared. "Alan is going to be hell."

"Yes, yes he is. But he has no one to blame but himself."

"But Brains? Really?"

"Watch them together sometime Virgil, I mean really watch them. The way they work together is something else."

Virgil looked shrewdly at his older brother. "You knew something like this would happen."

Scott didn't even try to deny it. "I'm just saying, even if on paper it doesn't make sense just watch it. Somehow it works."

The brothers lapsed into silence, Virgil mulling over Scott's words carefully. Scott meanwhile was nursing his coffee and reminiscing over something from his own past. They were jolted out of their reverie by a porter bringing along breakfast for Brains. They waited until Brains was fed and then knocked on his open door.

"Oh c-come in Virgil. Hello Scott, I w-wasn't expecting you."

"Good morning Brains, how are you today?" Scott asked, perching on the edge of a table.

"I'm feeling much b-better, thank you Scott."

"I'll bet you are," Virgil muttered, causing Brains to blush profoundly. Scott shot a glare towards his brother.

"Virgil tells me that the Doc says you may be able to return to the Island with us today."

"Hopefully, Scott. I have a l-lot of reading to catch up on."

"Oh no you won't." Tintin had arrived back in the doorway and she was holding one finger up threateningly to Brains. "You are having some time off Brains, you still need to recover."

The engineer looked ready to argue but was stopped by the arrival of Dr Clifford. After greeting the occupants of the room the doctor got to work, inspecting Brains' injury and checking all the monitors in the room. When he was finished he stood up, satisfied with what he had seen.

"Well Mr Hackenbacker, it looks as though you are recovering well. I see no reason why you can't go home today. Just take care, lots of rest and if you start to feel unwell at all get in touch." The doctor looked at Virgil, who he knew fairly well as the main medic for the Island. "If he starts to feel woozy, get a scan done and send them over. Probably won't be anything but given the nature of the injury I don't think we can be too careful. I can always come out to you to give him a once over."

"Sure thing Doc."

"I'll go and start prepping the plane," Scott offered. "Assuming we'll be able to go soon?"

"Oh yes, you can go anytime now. I'd prefer it if Mr Hackenbacker here was transported horizontal, if possible."

"Not a problem. OK all, see you in a bit." Scott swept out the room and the hospital, no doubt leaving a trail of swooning ladies in his wake as Tracy boys often did even in civilian gear.

"Mr Clifford sir," Tintin began politely. "I have a couple of things for Annie but I saw she wasn't working today, could you pass them on for me?"

"Annie, eh?" The doctor looked curiously at Tintin. "I hadn't realised you'd become friendly. I'm glad - she's been through a lot and really keeps to herself most of the time. She's staying in cottage 2b, you'll either find her there or at the gym."

"Thank you, I'll be right back." Tintin promised the boys and went in search of her friend. The cottages were actually small flats that were at the edge of the hospital, mainly used for staff to stay in whilst on call. But if Annie had nowhere else to go it made sense that they had provided her with one. The flats were small but tidy, two stories high with each building containing an upper and lower flat. They each had a small patch of garden - the front for the upstairs and the back for the downstairs. As Tintin approach flat 2 she could see Annie stood in the front garden, stubbornly looking at a small shrub. She had a pair of shears in one hand and twigs strewn in her hair.

"Annie," Tintin called out and was rewarded by a beaming smile and a wave of the shears.

"Hello Tintin! Good night?" Annie's grin widened at Tintin's obvious embarrassment. The young woman gave her new friend a hug when she arrived at the garden, carefully avoiding the shears. "That good was it?" Annie asked amused.

"Oh Annie," Tintin sighed dreamily. "It just feels, right, you know? Like I'm home when I'm with him." Realising that she was being overly mushy, she hesitated. "Well, I guess we still need to just see how it goes. There will be quite a bit to work through."

Annie gave her friend a soft smile. "But that's ok, you have as long as you need to work it out. I can't pretend to have any advice for you but I'm sure you'll figure it out by yourself."

"Oh of course," Tintin covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry, I'm being insensitive. Has there been anyone since...?"

"Since my accident? No, but some of the only things I remember from before are impressions of warmth and being loved." Annie shrugged and her expression turned distant, thinking about the other flashes she would get, of eyes and hair and a strong arm wrapped around her. "But... we've never been able to find out who I am and if someone was searching for me we should have heard by now." She didn't add that the only conclusion they had come to was that she'd been in a shipwreck and was assumed dead; that any companions were also likely to have perished.

Tintin flung her arms around her and squeezed tight. "Well you have me now. And I'm sure that when the boys meet you, you will be taken straight into our family."

"Thank you, Tintin," Annie smiled warmly. "I've really appreciated having you around to talk to recently."

"That reminds me!" Tintin rummaged around in her bag, pulling out a small slip of paper. "We're heading off soon, Brains has been allowed to leave and I want to make sure he's being cared for properly. But here's my number, do call me. I'll come and visit again soon and we can have a girl's night out."

"I'd really like that, thank you." With one last hug Annie gave Tintin a little push. "Now go! Go and look after your man. We'll talk soon."

With a last wave Tintin was off back to the hospital. Returning to Brains' room, she found only Virgil waiting for her. "They've taken Brains to make sure he is comfortably settled in the plane. Did you find your friend?"

"Oh yes thank you Virgil, I just wanted to make sure she could get in touch. She's been great while I've been here and I really like her."

"Who is she?"

"Oh she's one of the receptionists here." Virgil's eyes widened.

"Not the hot brunette? Ow!" Tintin had smacked him on the nose with her purse.

"Down boy. She isn't going to be one of your conquests, Virgil. I mean it. I don't have many true friends and you aren't going to mess this up for me."

"Ok, ok, point taken Tintin, she's off the table. Shame though." He eyed up the purse that was waving threateningly in his direction again and quickly switched the topic of discussion. "I think one of the porters grabbed your stuff, so we should be good to go now." He led the way out towards the hospital's short runway where the plane was prepped and waiting for its last passengers. Soon the whole party were returning to Tracy Island once more.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A few days later Scott was flying Thunderbird 1 back to Tracy Island after a minor rescue that hadn't really required International Rescue at all. They'd been scrambled to find a missing person in a burning office block, but before he'd even arrived the person had been accounted for and the fire crews were in control of the blaze. He'd still stopped to check that there were no further complications but had only been on the ground for about ten minutes before flying straight home.

His intercom beeped loudly. "This is Thunderbird 1," he answered, patching through voice only to the cockpit as he tended to do when flying.

"Oh hey Scott," came his youngest brother's voice. "How are things?"

Alan was always chattier than John when he was in Thunderbird 5. No one said it explicitly, but it was well understood that one of the reasons John spent more time on '5 than his youngest brother was that their father got a little tired of the constant interruptions whenever Alan was in space.

"Pretty routine Alan, I'm nearly home now. How is Thunderbird 5?"

"Oh, you know, pretty routine." It didn't take a genius to realise that when Alan said routine he meant boring. This was the boy who liked racing and fast cars.

"It's only another couple of weeks now Alan, you'll be alright. Have you been watching that new show Parker recommended?"

"Have I!" Alan went quiet on the other end. "I wasn't aware Parker was quite into so much..."

"Gore? Blood?"

"Breasts."

Scott burst out laughing at the awkwardness in Alan's voice. "Luckily you were watching it up there and not in the kitchen then. Imagine what Grandma would say?"

"I don't want to think of Grandma anywhere near that show, Scott. I rigged it up to play while I was using the gym. Not a good call."

Scott continued to chortle to himself while his brother went quiet. Then, in a slightly hesitant tone, Alan said "I thought I might see if Tintin wanted to go to the big race with me in a couple of weeks. Nice hotel for a couple of nights, going to the after race party, that kind of thing. What do you think?"

Scott winced, incredibly relieved that his brother couldn't see his expression. "I think you might want to check with her first, Alan. She's got some plans for the next few weeks."

"Plans? Tintin? She is only ever on the Island or visiting Lady Penelope."

"Still, probably best to ask her first. I'm going to have to go Alan, I'm landing soon." Scott hung up quickly, internally berating himself for the half truths. It had been an unspoken agreement between the four of them that they wouldn't breathe a word of what had happened the last night at Sunbeam Memorial back on Tracy Island. Not because they wanted to hide it, particularly, but because they all had decided to give Brains and Tintin a bit of space to work out between themselves what was going on. Living on an Island with your new girlfriend was daunting enough, let alone with a horde of honorary brothers, her father and potentially a jealous ex. Not that Alan and Tintin were ever together enough for Alan to count as an ex, but Scott couldn't help but think Alan wouldn't see it that way.

It wasn't at all because no one wanted to be the one to tell his little brother, no sirree.

John naturally had already guessed – mostly because Scott had spent quite a lot of time filling him in on what had happened in Casablanca. But the rest of the Island's inhabitants remained blissfully ignorant. If anyone had happened to spot the way that Brains and Tintin would now sit a little too close together or share soft smiles when they thought no one was looking, well they didn't say anything.

Once Thunderbird 1 was safely parked in her hanger Scott joined the rest of his family in the lounge. There was a piece on the television about the new Halley rocket ship that was going to be launched at a comet that was due to pass close to the Earth in a few months' time. It was being lauded as the first opportunity to investigate whether life began in space, but whether or not bacteria were found on the comet the technology behind the rocket was extraordinary and had Brains and his father hooked.

Sure enough, Jeff was watching from his desk whilst penning some memos and Brains was sat on one of the small sofas. As she often had been of late, Tintin was sat very close to Brains and Scott suspected they were secretly holding hands out of view. The thought had obviously crossed Virgil's mind too as, out of sight of their father, his middle brother waggled his eyebrows at Scott when he entered. This caused John, standing by one of the easy chairs, to snort very indelicately.

"Is there something funny boys?" Jeff asked, not quite sure what his sons were up to but very sure it wasn't good.

"Oh, no father," Virgil replied innocently. "Just admiring the design of the Halley. Named after the famous comet, I take it?"

"That's right son," Jeff confirmed. "It's an amazing opportunity to sample the internal water of a comet, to study if they harbour any life forms that may explain the origins of life on Earth. And to do it remotely, with no human on board but instead sat in a laboratory on Earth with state of the art virtual reality simulator, is a marvellous feat of engineering."

"It sure is that, dad."

The programme ended and Tintin excused herself to go and get some refreshments from the kitchen. About a minute later Brains stammered something about his lab and also left the room, causing another round of suppressed giggles amongst the eldest three brothers.

Jeff turned the television off and Virgil replaced it with the radio, taking up station by his easel. Scott pulled out his book and John picked up some papers. Gordon was content with standing on the balcony overlooking the sea. Relative peace descended over Tracy Island.

Peace that was shattered when Grandma Tracy, Jeff's formidable octogenarian mother, stormed into the room waving a rolling pin. "Now who wants to tell me why Brains and Tintin are playing tonsil hockey in MY kitchen?"


	9. Never letting you go

_Jeff turned the television off and Virgil replaced it with the radio, taking up station by his easel. Scott pulled out his book and John picked up some papers. Gordon was content with standing on the balcony overlooking the sea. Relative peace descended over Tracy Island._

_Peace that was shattered when Grandma Tracy, Jeff's formidable octogenarian mother, stormed into the room waving a rolling pin. "Now who wants to tell me why Brains and Tintin are playing tonsil hockey in MY kitchen?"_

Silence fell over the lounge of Tracy Island. Looking around, Grandma could see exactly who was and wasn't aware of the shenanigans. Jeff looked as though he was poleaxed and Gordon was gaping in surprise. Not them, then. Virgil, however, was obviously trying to conceal a giggle. John looked all too innocent and Scott had yet to look up from his book. In fact, he was obviously hiding behind it.

"They're WHAT?"

The tense atmosphere in the lounge got a lot tenser when Alan spoke. For the second time that day Scott found himself wincing and Virgil stopped grinning immediately. Their youngest brother must have chosen pretty much that exact moment to dial in to the Island for a chat and had obviously heard Grandma's announcement.

No one answered Alan, although slowly Jeff Tracy sunk his head into his hands. The silence was tense but no one felt able to break it.

That is, until Tintin and Brains came barrelling into the room. "We can explain!"

"Well, go on then!" Except it wasn't Grandma that spoke. Alan was staring down from his portrait, waiting for an answer.

"W-well, A-a-a-a-Alan, you see, I er..." Brains was stuttering so badly he could barely string any words together.

"What Brains is trying to say is that we have been spending more time together recently, and we've realised we care for each other as more than friends." Tintin put her hand on Brains' arm and bravely addressed the room. "We're doing nothing wrong. I am sorry Alan," and this was said directly to the youngest Tracy. "But I was going to tell you the moment you got home. I thought it would be better to have the conversation face to face, I didn't expect you to find out like this."

The man in question simply stared at her for a second or two before cutting off his screen, essentially hanging up on the Island. Tintin and Brains then turned to Jeff, Brains reaching forward and squeezing Tintin's hand as she faced her employer.

The head of International Rescue wiped a hand across his face. "Tintin, Brains, you're both consenting adults and can do whatever you want. Just don't let it interfere with work." He rose from his desk and went to leave the room. "If anyone needs me, I'm going for a walk. Somebody make sure Alan isn't breaking anything." On the way past he gently squeezed Tintin's shoulder, an indication that he didn't disapprove. Grandma huffed and followed him out, muttering about the sanctity of kitchen worktops all the way.

That left the four Tracy brothers. Virgil simply raised his eyebrows at the pair.

"The kitchen worktops? Really? Not the most subtle location."

Tintin buried her face in her hands. "I knew father was in the garden and everyone else was here...I completely forgot Grandma."

"W-we completely forgot Grandma," Brains corrected her gently, pulling her close. "It's a-as much my fault as y-yours, Tintin." She smiled at him gratefully before her expression turned concerned again.

"Will Alan be ok?"

"Sure he will," Scott replied. "He'll be a bit disappointed I'm sure, but he had no claim over you, Tintin. He can be hot headed sometimes but he'll realise that soon enough."

"T-thanks Scott. I-I think we'll go to the l-lab, now."

The pair left, Brains murmuring something quietly to Tintin. The three eldest Tracy's looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief, before:

"What in the hell just happened here?!"

-x-x-x-

In the sacred space that was Tracy Island's main laboratory, Tintin and Brains simply stood with their arms around each other. Tintin was shaking slightly - she was never particularly confrontational anyway but had needed to stand up for herself. She was so embarrassed at being caught by Grandma in the kitchen, it was only a small mercy that it hadn't been her father. She wasn't entirely sure that she would ever have got over the embarrassment if her father had caught them.

Brains, well aware of his girlfriend's emotions, was rubbing small circles on her back. After Tintin had recovered he produced a cup of tea - made just the way she liked it, of course - and had even manage to scrounge some chocolate biscuits from somewhere. Given that neither had been brave enough to venture to the main kitchen again, he'd had to hunt through the little kitchenette attached to the lab and had been fortunate to find them. Biscuits didn't last long once Brains or Scott started tinkering on something.

"Are you ok?" Brains asked eventually, having helped Tintin to a seat. "I-I know you didn't want A-Alan to find out."

"Oh Brains, it isn't that I didn't want him to find out. I just wanted to be able to tell him face to face. There was so much confusion, I think I owe him that."

"A-are you sure, Tintin? I know A-Alan is younger, more handsome-"

"Stop right there Brains," Tintin frowned at the engineer. "He is definitely not more handsome than you, plus he is only interested in fast cars and racing. I can't talk to him about Feynmann's theorems, or help to make huge feats of technology in the lab. I've made my choice and it wasn't Alan."

"But Tintin..."

"No," Tintin was beginning to get cross now. "You don't need to, and shouldn't, compare yourself to Alan. He can't hold a candle to you, but you won't believe it! Why are men so stubborn?!" She stormed out of the room, passing a startled Scott who had come to see if the pair were ok after their unexpected outing to the group.

Torn between following Tintin and talking to Brains, Scott chose the engineer. Brains sat with his glasses hanging from one hand, the other rubbing his eyes.

"Hey Brains, what happened?"

"Oh, h-hey Scott. I-I'm not sure. A-all I did was a-ask if she was s-sure she wanted to be with me..." Brains saw Scott put his head into his hands despairingly. "W-was that bad?"

"Brains, how many times have you asked her that over the last few days?"

"N-not that often!"

"Which means the answer isn't 'none', and that would be the problem Brains. Tintin is an adult; a very clever, capable adult at that. If she has made up her mind about something then it will mean she is very sure."

"Oh no, what h-have I done?"

"It will be ok Brains, you're both very new to this and she knows that. Just, trust her a bit more yeah? When she's less stressed she'll come around."

-x-x-

Meanwhile, Tintin had ended up on the patio by the pool, overlooking the sea. She wasn't alone, Gordon was swimming lengths and John was reading a book in one of the loungers. The blond put down his book after memorising the page number.

"Hey Tintin, what's eating you?"

"Why are men so stubborn?"

"...that's a bit of a sweeping generalisation on an Island where ninety percent of the occupants are male or Grandma."

Tintin smiled at that, her annoyance diffusing. "I'm sorry, I'm just fed up of Brains comparing himself badly to Alan. I know for a long time it seemed that Alan and I might be a thing, but that's in the past now. I think it was just expected of us, so we began to believe it. But that's not what I want now, I love Brains. It's him that I want. Why won't he see that?" She kicked a loose pebble into the rocks.

"Does he know that?"

"I've told him enough!" Tintin flopped inelegantly down only one of the rocks at the edge of the patio that hid the mechanisms for Thunderbird 1's exit through the pool.

"Not the bit about Alan," John said gently, sitting next to her. "He bit about loving him."

"I...oh." Tintin's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh my, I just said that didn't I?" One small hand flew to her mouth. "I...I do John, I love him. It feels too soon, but..."

"But sometimes you just know. Go tell him Tintin. And forgive him his nerves, after all not many men can compete with the Tracy's" Now John sent her a cheeky wink, making her giggle. She gave John a quick, uncharacteristic peck on the cheek and went back inside Tracy Villa with a wave.

"Man, she could have the choice of any one of us and yet she goes for the only one we aren't actually related to." Gordon had swum over and was now propped on the edge of the pool, the grin on his face belying his words.

John raised an elegant eyebrow. "It probably suggests that she has the most sense out of anyone on this Island."

"Hey," Gordon cried, splashing water at his older brother. "I resemble that remark!" He turned and swam back up to the stairs out of the pool, leaving John shaking his head and murmuring 'prat' fondly.

Once Gordon was out he came back over to where John was collecting his book, towelling his hair roughly. "She's serious about him, hm?"

John didn't need to ask who Gordon was referring to. "Looks like it."

"And he worships the ground she walks on." At John's incredulous stare, he spread his hands wide. "What? I do have eyes, you know. Sometimes I even use them. It's been obvious for a while that something was going on, it just wasn't until today that I realised what."

"Did you manage to get in touch with Alan?"

"Yeah, I think he's a bit bummed but he'll be alright. The silly thing is, I'm not sure how much he even likes her really." John looked confused so Gordon elaborated. "I mean... we've all 'known' that Alan and Tintin were going to get together, so I think he just accepted it. And of course, he likes her as a friend. But if he really liked her that way he wouldn't treat her like old news every time Lady Penelope visits." Whatever Alan may like to think, was no secret on the Island that the youngest Tracy had a huge crush on the aristocrat.

John conceded his younger brother may be right. "Careful there Gords, you might actually be displaying some emotional depth!"

"Me? Never!" Gordon looked horrified at the thought. "I'm a one night stand kinda guy!"

"One day someone will make you change your ways, you just wait and see." John warned with a wagging finger as he wandered back into the villa. Gordon followed with the towel draped around his shoulders, muttering about sanctimonious older brothers as he did so.

-x-x-

Scott had remained in the lab tinkering with some kit while Brains left to find Tintin. Simultaneously, Tintin was searching for Brains on her way back from the pool. The two ended up running into each other, literally, in the corridor outside the Tracy Villa bedrooms. As Tintin rounded a corner she collided with Brains who was hurrying in the other direction. After a brief pause they reached for each other at the same time.

"I'm sorry!"

"I-I'm an idiot."

They both starting giggling at that. Tintin drew back and held Brains' hands. "I am sorry Brains. I shouldn't assume that you know what I'm thinking."

"A-and I should trust you more, T-Tintin. I know you know what you w-want, I just still c-can't believe that it's me."

"Oh but Brains, you're the most kind, considerate and wonderful person I know. That is more important to me than anything, that is why I love you."

Brains simply stared at Tintin. "You l-love...me?"

"Yes, you silly," she giggled. "Why else would I...oh!"

Brains had pulled her in to kiss her heatedly. They may have stayed that way for a while apart from a slight cough from behind Tintin, a polite cough that nevertheless caused Brains to freeze and all colour to leave his face. "H-hello, Mr K-kyrano, sir."

Tintin's father merely raised an elegant eyebrow and swept past both Tintin and Brains with a knowing smile. Once he had rounded the corner towards the Villa's beach steps, Tintin started giggling uncontrollably and leant on Brains shoulder. "Is there anyone on this planet who doesn't know now?"

"Well you are in the middle of the corridor," Virgil was leaning against his bedroom door, watching with amusement. "If you really wanted to be discreet you probably should have steered clear of corridors, kitchens and generally all communal areas."

He sauntered past the couple, shooting Brains a wink and disappeared in the direction of the Villa's kitchen, from whence Kyrano had emerged a minute earlier.

"D-does that mean your father a-approves, Tintin?"

"Oh yes Brains. He doesn't always say a lot but I can tell."

"T-that's good, Tintin. That's very good. B-because I love you too, Tintin Kyrano, a-and I'm not g-going to let you go."

Tintin returned Brains embrace, leaning her head against his chest and sighing contentedly. "I'm very pleased to hear that Brains, because I don't intend to let you go either.”


	10. Epilogue

Tintin studied her image in the mirror, applying just a slight hint of lipstick to finish her make up. She critically appraised herself – smart skirt suit, check. Clean, ironed blouse, check. Smart shoes with functional heels, check. Hair in a tidy bun, check. Satchel ready to go, check. Everything was ready in fact, but that didn't help to stop her stomach somersaulting. She had been offered a chance to study an Engineering PHD with the advanced robotics department at MIT in Boston following the successful conference in Casablanca. Today she was due to be interviewed by the head of department, Professor Maria Kruger, and she was desperate to succeed.

There was a knock at the hotel room door. Tintin opened it tentatively, to reveal a man in a courier's uniform holding a large square box. "Delivery for Miss Tintin Kyrano?"

"Yes, that is me." The man held out the box and a tablet for Tintin to sign. Confused, she shut the door again and studied the box in her hands. It was about thirty centimetres in length on each side and at first look she didn't know what it was made of. She gave it a quick shake, then nearly dropped it when a hologram appeared floating above it.

"Hi Tintin," the little hologram of Brains started, waving shyly at Tintin's shocked face. "I-I know how much you wanted m-me to be there today, and I'm very sorry t-that I'm not. So I've made something to h-help you feel b-better."

Just hearing his message brought a smile to Tintin's face, but the next second the cube suddenly burst open to reveal two mechanical arms that wrapped around her and gave her a tight hug. Initially startled, Tintin relaxed into the hug as the holographic Brains carried on talking. "You will be a-amazing today and they are bound to offer you a place. G-good luck, Tintin."

The small hologram disappeared, and the next minute the arms folded themselves back into the box and it was a silent cube again. Tintin smiled indulgently as she put the box gently on a table.

"That was..."

"Bloody mental?" Annie interrupted, holding a steaming mug out for Tintin from the doorway that joined their two hotel rooms. Tintin took it happily, pleased that Annie liked tea as much as Tintin herself did.

"I was going to say incredibly sweet." This brought a laugh from Annie.

"I don't know why no one noticed before now that you two were meant for each other!" Tintin just grinned shyly as she picked up her bag.

"What do you think?"

"I think you look very professional. Now go knock them dead."

"I'm not sure that will give quite the impression I'm after." Tintin laughed nervously, smoothing the front of her jacket.

Annie walked over and put her hands on Tintin's shoulders. "Tintin, you will be amazing. Now go and persuade some boring university people to accept you onto their course."

"Yes, of course." Tintin nodded firmly. "Although..."

She broke free from Annie's hands, ran over to the cube and received another hug whilst listening again to Brains' message of support. When it had finished, she straightened up and smiled at Annie. "I'm ready now. MIT isn't going to know what hit it."

"That's the spirit," Annie encouraged, and the two women left the hotel room together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading and commenting! I will be posting Unforgotten, the third part of this story, very soon.


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